Supported households and costs

3200 households with no recourse to public funds were provided with accommodation and financial support by 68 councils at a collective annual cost of £57 million.  

The 3200 households comprised of: 

• 1636 families, with 2932 dependants, supported by 67 councils at an annual cost of £26.8 million.
• 708 adults with care needs, supported by 43 councils at an annual cost of £12.9 million.  
• 856 looked after children and care leavers, supported by 29 councils, at an annual cost of £17.2 million.

Referrals/ requests for support

• The number of requests or referrals for support (5758) increased by 10% from the previous year, with 30 Greater London boroughs reporting 60% of requests.
• Of the families requesting support, 30% had no current immigration permission and 21% had a form of leave to remain that was subject to the ‘No Recourse to Public Funds’ (NRPF) condition.
• Of the adults requesting support, 29% had no current immigration permission and 28% were EEA nationals or had European residence rights. 

Time on support

• Families received support for an average period of 589 days (1.5 years) and adults with care needs received support an average of 911 days (2.5 years).
• For households where the parent or adult was a non-EEA national with no current immigration permission or leave to remain subject to the NRPF condition, 15% of families and 35% of adults with care needs had been supported for over 1000 days. 

Reasons for case closure/ exiting support

Of the 1156 family households that had their support withdrawn and case closed:

• 79% exited support following a grant of leave to remain or a change in immigration status that allows access to public funds
• 4% returned to their country of origin or left the UK (3% EEA nationality and 1% non-EEA nationality)

Of the 354 adult households that had their support withdrawn and case closed:

• 51% exited support following a grant of leave to remain or a change in immigration status that allows access to public funds
• 8% returned to their country of origin or left the UK (7% EEA nationality and 1% held non-EEA nationality) 

During the year of the Covid-19 pandemic, it is perhaps unsurprising that councils saw an increase in people with no recourse to public funds requesting support, or that more households were recorded as being provided with accommodation and financial support in comparison to the previous year. This places significant pressures on staffing resources and council budgets. The overall costs to local government will no doubt be higher if these trends are replicated in councils that are not contributing data through NRPF Connect.  

Households receiving support are diverse in terms of their immigration status. The rise in the proportion of adults with EEA nationality who requested or were provided with support could be a consequence of the changes to their residence rights following the end of free movement in the UK.  

The fact that one fifth of families requesting support have leave to remain that is subject to the NRPF condition serves as evidence of the financial hardship experienced by people with this immigration status, who are often on routes to settlement. As it is likely that a council will only be approached once informal or charitable support in the community has been exhausted, this figure can only represent the 'tip of the iceberg' in terms of wider need. The ability for people with leave on the family or private life routes to apply to the Home Office for a change of conditions to request that the NRPF condition is lifted may explain why this group makes up a smaller proportion (5%) of the family households that are provided with support. The change of conditions process offers an opportunity, in some cases, for a family’s situation of destitution to be resolved relatively quickly following their presentation to the Council.  

The fact that a significant proportion of people remain supported, despite having recourse to public funds, demonstrates that there can be delays transferring to mainstream benefits and housing services following a positive Home Office outcome.  

Although it is positive that the average time on support has decreased for both adult and family households, it is concerning that the proportion of adult households who had been receiving support for longer than 1000 days increased from 27% in March 2020 to 35% in March 2021.  

The data also continues to demonstrate that the majority of families (79%) and adults (51%) will exit support due to a grant of leave to remain or change in immigration status granting recourse, with the numbers returning to their country of origin or leaving the UK remaining low. People who are ‘in breach of immigration laws’ are only able to receive support when there is a barrier preventing return to their country of origin (Schedule 3 Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002). The data demonstrates that for the significant proportion of people provided with local authority support who are without current immigration permission, return to country of origin will only rarely be the solution to their situation of destitution in the UK. 

There has been an increase in the number of looked after children and care leavers added to the database, demonstrating that it is a useful tool to get updates on the progress of immigration and asylum claims, to identify whether a young person requires further immigration advice, and to confirm the status of care leavers age 18+ when the council must consider whether Schedule 3 applies and a human rights assessment is required.  

Councils clearly benefit from working in partnership with the Home Office over the NRPF Connect database in order to obtain essential immigration information to enact statutory safety-net responsibilities and gain prioritisation of immigration claims when households are receiving local authority support. However, with 33% of Home Office responses falling below the targets set out in the Service Level Agreement, this raises the question of how the Home Office will be able to meet an increase in demand for the service arising from existing users and new councils wishing to join.  

Overall, the national data demonstrates that significant cost pressures arise for councils as a result of government policies excluding people from mainstream benefits and housing services. The trends identified in the data inform the recommendations for policy and operational change that are set out in this report. Action is required from the UK Government to reduce destitution in communities and mitigate the impacts that immigration policies have on councils. Councils may also need to consider how they can reduce costs locally by ensuring that services providing essential safety-net support are delivered as efficiently and effectively as possible, including making best use of NRPF Connect to monitor caseloads and trends.  

Policy changes

• End the imposition of the NRPF condition.
• Enable people with pending EU Settlement Scheme applications (made in time or late) to be eligible for means-tested benefits and mainstream homelessness assistance.
• Enable people with pre-settled status to rely on this as a right to reside in order to be eligible for means-tested benefits and mainstream homelessness assistance.
• Work across local and central government to fully understand the impacts of the use of the NRPF condition on councils and communities  
• Mitigating impacts on local government when immigration-based exclusions to benefits are maintained 

Funding  

• Using the comprehensive spending review process to understand and provide financial reimbursement to councils when people with no recourse to public funds are provided with accommodation and financial support.

• When immigration or other national policies are formed that may increase homelessness and destitution, and therefore the need for local authority support, a new burdens assessment must be undertaken that considers how this will affect existing pressures.

Minimising impacts

Provide policy concessions or more streamlined operational processes across government departments when these give rise to cost-shunts or delays exiting support. For example:

• Reinstating legal aid for immigration matters for particular groups or types of cases. 
• Exempting people receiving local authority support from secondary healthcare charging. 
• Enabling people without National Insurance numbers to be issued these once leave to remain is granted in order to expedite the transition to mainstream benefits when recourse to public funds is obtained.

With a view to taking steps to reduce any negative impacts on children, people with protected characteristics, and integration, conduct a cross-departmental review of the impacts arising from:

• Imposing the NRPF condition.
• Restricting access to benefits for EEA nationals with pre-settled status and people who are applying to the EU Settlement Scheme who cannot meet right to reside requirements.

To undertake a more strategic approach to concluding the immigration claims of households receiving support for over 1000 days, including a policy solution, such as a route to regularisation, when people are unable to return to their country of origin but do not meet the requirements of the Immigration Rules.

Operation of NRPF Connect 

• Increase the current resources put into operating NRPF Connect in order to ensure that the terms of the Service Level Agreement are met and to enable more councils to join and benefit from using the system.
• If the current policy position remains unchanged, increase the resourcing of NRPF Connect so that more targeted casework can be undertaken to ensure that households supported for over 1000 days achieve a final outcome expediently in addition to meeting the Service Level Agreement.

Service planning

• Ensure that a coordinated response is being undertaken to case-resolution across all practice areas to improve outcomes for residents receiving support and reduce expenditure, using NRPF Connect data to identify local trends and understand the needs of supported households.
• Consider ‘invest to save’ arguments for specialist staffing resources and commissioning services to support case-resolution, such as immigration advice.
• If your council is supporting households with no recourse to public funds and is not subscribing to NRPF Connect, consider joining to support local service delivery and contribute to collective regional and national data to understand the needs and make up of people with NRPF in your locality

Operational 

• Work with housing colleagues to expedite the transition between services when recourse has been granted and the household becomes eligible for homelessness assistance (including homelessness prevention).
• Review local data to ensure that this has been accurately reflected in your regions data report. Where inaccuracies are identified, remedial action may need to be undertaken to improve data quality.
• Attend your regional NRPF Network to share practice and learning.
• Contact the NRPF Network for further training and user support with NRPF Connect, as required. 

Overall costs and households receiving support (as of 31 March 2021) 

68 councils in England and Scotland were providing 3200 households with accommodation and/or financial support at a collective annual cost of £57 million.  

The 3200 households comprised of: 

• 1636 families, with 2932 dependants, supported by 67 councils at an annual cost of £26.8 million.
• 708 adults with care needs, supported by 43 councils at an annual cost of £12.9 million. 
• 856 looked after children and care leavers, supported by 29 councils, at an annual cost of £17.2 million. 

The number of households receiving support has increased by 30% since the end of 2019-20, when data from 66 councils was profiled. The increase in numbers and costs of adults and families receiving support reverses the downwards trend reported in 2019-20.    

Of the 1578 family households with immigration status recorded: 

• 47% had no current immigration permission, including visa overstayers 
• 16% had leave to remain with recourse to public funds and are likely to be in the process of transferring to mainstream benefits and housing services
• 15% had an asylum claim recorded
• 12% were European Economic Area (EEA) nationals or had European residence rights
• 10% had leave to remain subject to the ‘No Recourse to Public Funds’ (NRPF) condition 

Of the 687 adult households with immigration status recorded:

• 39% had no current immigration permission 
• 31% had an asylum claim recorded
• 20% were EEA nationals or had European residence rights (an increase from 17% in 2019-20)
• 5% had leave to remain subject to the NRPF condition
• 5% had recourse to public funds and are likely to be in the process of transferring to mainstream benefits and housing services 

Referrals (April 2020 – March 2021) 

5758 households requesting or referred for support were added to the database during the year.  

The 5758 households comprised of: 

• 3273 families
• 1818 adults with care needs
• 677 looked after children and care leavers 

The number of referrals received increased by 10% in comparison to the last financial year.  

30% of family households that were referred for support had no current immigration status and 21% had a form of leave to remain that was subject to the NRPF condition.

29% of adult households that were referred for support had no current immigration status and 28% were EEA nationals or had European residence rights.  

Time on support and closure reasons (as of 31 March 2020) 

The average number of days that a family household was supported for was 589 days (down from 629 days in 2019-20).  

The average number of days that an adult household was supported for was 911 days (down from 1055 days in 2019-20).  

A case is classed as ‘unresolved’ where a parent or adult is a non-EEA national with no current immigration permission or has leave to remain subject to the NRPF condition. The following proportions of ‘unresolved’ households received support for longer than 1000 days:

• 15% of families (184 of 1204)
• 35% of adults (181 of 531) - this has increased from 27% in 2019-20

Of the 1156 family households that had their support withdrawn and case closed: 

• 79% exited support following a grant of leave to remain or a change in immigration status that allows access to public funds.
• 3% returned to their country of origin or left the UK (EEA nationality). 
• 1% returned to their country of origin or left the UK (non-EEA nationality). 

Of the 354 adult households that had their support withdrawn and case closed: 

• 51% exited support following a grant of leave to remain or a change in immigration status that allows access to public funds.  
• 7% returned to their country of origin or left the UK (EEA nationality). 
• 1% returned to their country of origin or left the UK (non- EEA nationality). 

Looked after children and care leavers (31 March 2021) 

2493 looked after children and care leavers were recorded on the database, with 856 recorded as being in receipt of accommodation and/or financial support.  

The number of looked after children and care leavers recorded on the database increased by 15% from 2175 at the end of Q1 to 2493 by the year end.  

Home Office responses (April 2020 – March 2021) 

The Home Office responded to 15,714 requests for immigration status information, comprising of: 

• 7,333 notifications generated when new households were added or a change of circumstance was recorded by a local authority user.
• 8,381 ‘queries’ raised by local authority users about households recorded on the system.  

The total number of requests increased by 7% since the previous year, when 14,625 requests (6,965 notifications and 7,660 queries) were responded to.  

Target response times are set out in the Service Level Agreement (SLA). The Home Office is expected to respond to a notification of a new household in 5 working days and a query raised by the council user in 10 working days.  

Throughout the year, 67% of all notifications and queries raised by council users were dealt with by the Home Office within the response times agreed in the SLA. If the SLA is missed, councils will often wait an additional 5 to 10 working days for a response to a notification for a status check.

Data by region 

See the data by region in England and data for Scotland

Data tables  

NRPF Connect data summary table 2020-2021

NRPF Connect regional data comparison table 2020-2021

Data by region

The 2020-21 data from NRPF Connect has been provided on a regional basis in order to demonstrate cost pressures at a local level and to help inform strategic planning and service development.

See the data by region in England and data for Scotland

Data tables

NRPF Connect data summary table 2020-2021

NRPF Connect regional data comparison table 2020-2021

NRPF Connect is used by councils on a voluntary basis. The database was launched in 2012 and became fully operational in 2013. At the end of March 2021, 68 councils in England and Scotland were using the database. 

Councils record expenditure on accommodation and financial support (subsistence) on the database, so costs arising from resourcing specialised staff or commissioning immigration advice are not captured.  

The data may not demonstrate the full costs incurred by an individual council if it is not used by all practice areas or if data accuracy is not monitored.  

The data set needs to be analysed by practice area (families, adults with care needs, and looked after children and care leavers) due to the different characteristics of each group. The database is primarily used to record adult and family households who request or are provided with accommodation and financial support by social services. More recently, councils have been using the database to record accommodation and subsistence costs for care leavers who have no recourse to public funds and to obtain immigration status information for looked after children with outstanding immigration or asylum claims. Costs for supporting looked after children are generally not recorded on the database as councils are provided with government funding for Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking Children (UASCs).  

NRPF Connect has not been used to record the support provided on an exceptional basis by councils during the Covid-19 pandemic to protect the lives of people who were sleeping rough or at risk of rough sleeping.  

NRPF Connect is project managed by the NRPF Network (hosted by Islington Council). Within the Home Office, NRPF is operated by the Data and Sanctions Team (DAST) based in the Interventions and Sanctions Directorate. Successful outcomes can only be achieved through effective partnership working between the Home Office and local authority users.