Data from 85 councils on households with no recourse to public funds that are supported by social care services shows that the new government needs to take action to assist councils to deliver this vital safety-net to alleviate homelessness and child poverty when families, adults with care needs, and young people leaving care are unable to access benefits and mainstream housing services due to their immigration status.
Despite the data showing that many of those receiving support are granted leave to remain and have a long-term future in the UK, time on support is increasing and costs for councils continue to rise. When cross-government strategies are implemented to alleviate homelessness and child poverty, it is essential that the challenges social care services face in delivering support to residents with no recourse to public funds are fully addressed in order to help achieve these ambitions.
Our three key asks for the UK government are:
- Provide grant funding for councils to invest in their delivery of accommodation and financial support for families and adults with care needs who have no recourse to public funds
- Ensure that the Home Office implements proportionate policy and operational solutions so that the provision of direct support becomes, in most cases, a short-term rather than long-term intervention
- Ensure that impacts of immigration policies are adequately addressed in order to achieve cross-government policy ambitions such as ending homelessness, tackling child poverty and tackling violence against women and girls
Grant funding for councils
At the end of March 2024, 85 councils in England and Scotland were providing accommodation and financial support to 3474 households with no recourse to public funds at a collective annual cost of £82 million – a cost that is met through over-stretched social care budgets.
83% of the total collective costs are property-related, whereas 17% are person-related. Person-related costs include financial support (subsistence) payments and non-residential care costs for adults.
The positive role that social care services play in alleviating homelessness and destitution when people are excluded from mainstream benefits, and the cost-impact of this, is clearly documented in the data from 85 councils using NRPF Connect. However, whereas councils receive grant funding to enable other government policy areas to be delivered locally, such as resettlement, asylum dispersal and ending rough sleeping, similar provision is not available to councils to safeguard the welfare of children or adults with care and support needs who are waiting for immigration outcomes. Grant funding is therefore needed as a minimum contribution from the UK government.
Proportionate Home Office operational and policy solutions
The Home Office No Recourse to Public Funds (NRPF) team provides councils using NRPF Connect with immigration status information, which is used by social care teams to correctly implement their statutory duties, and, for households receiving financial support, escalates immigration cases with the relevant Home Office casework teams. In 2023-24, 15,176 immigration status checks were provided over NRPF Connect.
In 2023-24, councils ended support for 70% of families and 59% of adults following a grant of leave to remain. However, although a grant of leave to remain is the most common reason why councils are able to end support, a council’s intervention is usually required on a long-term basis.
Since the end of March 2023, the average time that support was provided for increased from 903 days to 949 days for adults and slightly reduced from 580 days to 568 days for families. The proportion of households receiving support for 1000 days or longer increased from 17% to 19% for families and 28% to 32% for adults.
One reason why households are supported on a long-term basis is that immigration claims are often caught up in Home Office casework backlogs. At the end of March 2024, there were nearly 33,000 outstanding fee waiver applications, and 12 months is the standard processing time for people making family or private life applications on the 10-year settlement route. Additionally, there is no policy solution for a situation where an adult with care needs does not meet the requirements of the Immigration Rules but cannot return due to complex issues relating to their physical or mental health needs.
The fact that the average time on support remains high and that the number of households supported for 1,000 days or longer has been increasing highlights the need for greater commitment from the Home Office to help achieve quicker outcomes for people with no recourse to public funds. The essential operational support currently provided by the Home Office has only a limited impact in the absence of a more strategic policy approach, which is needed to ensure that social care support becomes a short-term intervention to provide stability whilst families and adults with care needs are resolving their immigration issues.
A proportionate and low-resource response from the Home Office would be to undertake a one-off exercise to grant leave to remain to households that have been supported by councils on a long-term basis. In the absence of such a response, councils, at a minimum, require a commitment from the Home Office to prioritise claims of households recorded on NRPF Connect and assurance that the NRPF team and other immigration casework areas will be adequately resourced. Read more about our recommendations for the Home Office.
Addressing the impacts of immigration policies to achieve cross-government policy ambitions
These data findings show that policy ambitions, such as ending homelessness, tackling child poverty and tackling violence against women and girls can only be achieved when immigration policies and restrictions are fully addressed. Our data demonstrates that efforts to achieve such goals must not be hindered by immigration policies that increase destitution and that gaps in entitlements for people with no recourse to public funds are addressed.
Referrals and requests for support increased across 2023-24, from 3,037 to 3,364 for families and 1,905 to 2,408 for adults. Although more councils recorded data in 2023-24 compared to 2022-23, (7 for adults and 3 for families), it is concerning that the number of referrals remains high and is increasing. As the Home Office proceeds to determine asylum claims following changes made to the Illegal Migration Act 2023 and increases enforcement action on employers, there is a risk that more people will fall into destitution following the withdrawal of support in the event of an unsuccessful asylum claim or a loss of income as illegal working arrangements are disrupted.
For families, the proportion of family requests that were made by parents who have leave to remain with a 'no recourse to public funds' (NRPF) condition increased from 21% to 28%, making this group the largest group approaching councils for support. Over half of these requests were made by parents who were not on the 10-year settlement, Hong Kong BN(O), or visitor routes.
Of the families receiving support at the end of March 2024, 12% included a British dependant, 80% were single parent households, and 73% were female single parent households.
The NRPF condition continues to be applied to a wide range of immigration categories, and it is concerning to see that, for families, over a quarter of requests for support were made by parents who had leave to remain. The breakdown of visa types reflects anecdotal reports from councils that they are increasingly being approached by families on student and work (including health and care worker) visas.
The data also demonstrates that female single parents are disproportionately affected by no recourse to public funds restrictions. Additionally, a significant proportion of families included a British dependant.
To promote the welfare of children, ease pressures on family budgets, and make work viable for parents with leave to remain, the government should consider extending the entitlements of families with no recourse to public funds. We recommend that child benefit, childcare for working parents, tax-free childcare, and healthy start vouchers are made available to all families, and that discretionary welfare payments administered by councils are removed from the list of public funds. Read more about our recommendations for policy changes that would end homelessness and child poverty.
Note on the data
The collective data referenced in this article is provided by 85 councils in England and Scotland using NRPF Connect for the financial year 2023-24 (1 April to 31 March).
Read the full UK data report for 2023-24. The data is also available by geographical area.