We were delighted to welcome so many local, regional and central government representatives, as well as voluntary sector partners, from across the UK to our 20-year anniversary celebration in Islington on 1 July 2026. The event provided an opportunity for us to say thank you to practitioners and to work together to shape and improve our practice for the future.
Speakers
The event opened with welcome remarks from Councillor Heather Staff, Executive Member for Community Safety, Islington Council. Islington Council has hosted the NRPF Network since its inception, with its objectives aligning with the council’s ambitions around equality, inclusion and achieving a fairer society for all residents. Cllr Staff highlighted the importance of duties under the Children Act 1989 and Care Act 2014, which enable social workers to provide support despite increasingly restrictive immigration policies that can drive poverty, homelessness and wider harms.
NRPF Network staff reflected on the Network’s journey and legal landscape, highlighting that:
- Home Office funding enabled 17 councils to establish the Network in 2006
- While much has changed in the wider immigration landscape, including the abolition of the National Asylum Support Service, EU free movement rights, and the National Assistance Act 1948 in England and Wales, the Network’s core objective of supporting councils to meet their statutory duties to safeguard residents facing destitution and homelessness has remained the same
- To achieve this objective, the Network supports councils by producing practice guidance and accessible web information and facilitating necessary partnership working with the Home Office through NRPF Connect, now used by over 100 councils
- Decades of court judgments and practice developments have significantly improved understanding of the duties at the core of supporting people with no recourse to public funds but these duties remain undefined within statutory guidance
- The Network’s practice guidance and resources remain essential for practitioners to help navigate frequent and often large-scale immigration policy changes that can make this a complex area of social work practice
- Proposed changes to settlement rules and asylum support, a potential review of migrants’ access to benefits, and amendments to the application of Article 8 rights in the new Immigration and Asylum Bill all mean that the local authority safety net will be in operation well into the future
Christianah Awodiji, Refugee, Asylum and Evacuee Manager at Manchester City Council guided councils on how they can focus on areas within their control to centre the welfare of individuals and families in their work whilst prepare for rising need as a result of proposed policy changes.
Workshops
Attendees were able to able to learn and share practice about:
- NRPF Connect
- Implementing a specialist service
- Accessing immigration advice and assisting people who lack capacity
The NRPF Network and Home Office set out how NRPF Connect and the RTPF Checker can be best used to support casework outcomes and how data is collected and shared with councils. Future plans for a new live data dashboard were shared and attendees provided input into how NRPF Connect should move forward.
NRPF teams from Bristol City Council and Liverpool City Council explained how they run dedicated services that oversee the support provided to families and adults with no recourse to public funds. Workshop attendees exchanged ideas about the different ways their services are, or could be, delivered and considered how best practice is implemented in the context of different service structures.
Speakers from the Immigration Advice Authority (IAA), Southwark Council, and Include respectively shared information on immigration advice regulation, how a council can support people to access immigration advice, and how to support people with complex immigration situations, including when a person lacks mental capacity in relation to addressing their immigration matter.
Reflections
Finally, attendees were provided with an opportunity to reflect on the themes of the day through a facilitated workshop focusing on how local and national systems shape the experience of people with no recourse to public funds.
Common concerns centred around the impacts on individuals and families experiencing destitution, challenges for practitioners, and pressure on council budgets as a result of the growing complexity of immigration policy and legislation, the widening gap between need for support and available resources, shortages of immigration advice and legal aid provision, rising accommodation costs, wider financial pressures on councils, and Home Office decision-making delays. However, it was recognised that no single organisation could address these challenges alone and that stronger local and regional partnerships, more knowledge sharing and peer learning, investment in immigration advice, and better participation in NRPF Connect and use of data, would be essential in responding to future pressures.
Acknowledgements
We are particularly grateful to the following people who presented or helped with the practicalities of the day:
- Councillor Heather Staff, Islington Council
- Roy Millard, NRPF Network steering group chair
- Nana Berikishvili, Liverpool City Council
- Helen Bryer, Bristol City Council
- Karen Eyre-White, Immigration Advice Authority
- Endri Horanlli, Southwark Council
- Brian Dikoff, Include
- Home Office NRPF team
- Christianah Awodiji, Manchester City Council & NRPF Network steering group member
- Jonathan Price, Ellie Young, and Emma Schuring, Renaisi
- The NRPF Network steering group, NRPF Network staff team and colleagues from the NRPF, Refugee and Migrant Service at Islington Council
Next steps
We will be reflecting on everyone's input throughout the day to inform our future objectives and work plan. It is clearly of great value to practitioners to get together in person with colleagues from across the UK, so we will consider how we can continue to facilitate the sharing of learning and practice.