Long-standing cases of NRPF support represent a significant negative impact on vulnerable families and adults and entail ever-growing unfunded costs for councils. Encouraging case resolution is a core aim of the NRPF Network and two main actions have been taken to focus on households for which 1,000 days have elapsed since financial support was first recorded on NRPF Connect:
- The Home Office has dedicated resources to expedite decision-making on long-term cases and identify lessons that can be learned to improve future case-resolution processes.
- NRPF Connect has been enhanced to make it easier to monitor 1,000-day cases from the Home Page. A monthly email summary of 1,000-day cases is being sent to admin users, including cases that need to be closed because recourse has been granted.
Since the review started in January 2023, 526 1,000-day cases have been reviewed and 346 have now been closed. 70% of closed cases were granted leave to remain. This is in addition to usual NRPF Connect case resolution and immigration query responses for shorter-term cases. The Home Office has stated that they are committed to escalating and resolving long-term outstanding cases but applications for rights-based leave will still be decided on their individual merits. Complex cases will not always be easily resolved without suitable legal representation and a pro-active casework approach from the local authority.
To support this work, we encourage local authorities to use the new 1,000-day case counter on NRPF Connect (see image below) and the monthly email reminders to:
- Ensure that any open cases that have left the service are now closed.
- Keep their cases accurately updated on NRPF Connect, particularly those on long term support, such that all 1,000 day cases are showing in the counter.
- Remember the importance of using ‘Queries’ to bring the Home Office’s attention to individual cases and aid progression as part of a pro-active case-work approach.
The 1,000-day case review follows a recommendation made by the NRPF Network to central government in our 2021/22 data report. The initial results of the review confirm the importance of expedient resolution in running an efficient NRPF service, something which has been reflected in successive data reports; in 2021/22, 83% of families and 60% of adults exited support following a grant of leave to remain. Regularly reviewing and updating supported cases and ensuring that people have good legal representation will reduce time spent on NRPF support and improve outcomes for residents.
NRPF Connect provides an efficient connection between local authorities and the Home Office’s NRPF Team to facilitate immigration queries and expedite cases, with the 1000-day case review the latest example of this important work.
NRPF Connect is also the only national case-management system to track and monitor NRPF service provision and spend in all regions of the UK. Having caseloads accurately reflected on NRPF Connect benefits all local authorities by ensuring collective data contributes towards policy and funding decisions at a strategic level; if the case is not on NRPF Connect, it is not being counted.
For all user-support or subscription enquiries, you can contact nrpfconnect@islington.gov.uk. We are happy to help you get the most out of the system for the benefit of everyone.