Children's services (families)

Read the practice guidance

This guidance is essential reading for social workers, social care managers and other staff who are responsible for assessing need and delivering accommodation and financial support to families with no recourse to public funds.

The guidance includes:

• Comprehensive information about the statutory framework and how the courts have directed this should be applied to families with no recourse to public funds
• Information to inform best practice when meeting a child’s needs through the provision of accommodation and financial support
• Information to inform best practice when assisting families to achieve a long-term solution to their situation of destitution and pathway off support

The guidance is supported by the Association of Directors of Children's Services (ADCS) and the Local Government Association (LGA).

The guidance includes dedicated chapters for local authorities in Wales and Scotland, and for health and social care trusts in Northern Ireland, which set out the equivalent statutory frameworks and additional guidance that practitioners will need to refer to. These chapters would need to be read in conjunction with the rest of the guidance. 

Template and accompanying practice guidance to assist with the process of undertaking a human rights assessment when Schedule 3 of the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002 applies to an adult, family, or care leaver who is receiving or applying for social services' support. When a person is ‘in breach of immigration laws’,  or is in another excluded group, Schedule 3 requires the council to undertake a human rights assessment to determine whether the person is able to return to their country of origin to avoid destitution in the UK or whether there is a barrier preventing their return.  

The practice guidance explains when a human rights assessment is required, how to identify a barrier to return, what to consider when there is no barrier to return, how to identify when a person may require further immigration advice, when Schedule 3 applies to European Economic Area (EEA) nationals, and what assistance can be provided following the outcome of the human rights assessment. 

Download the template (word document) 

Read the guidance

Online tool that we developed in partnership with the University of Oxford's Centre on Migration, Policy and Society (COMPAS) to help establish what a family’s support options will be on the basis of the parent’s immigration status.

Use the tool to find out:

• Whether a family may be eligible for benefits
• What to consider when assessing a family’s eligibility for support under section 17 of the Children Act 1989
• What immigration options the family may have and when they may require signposting to get legal advice from an immigration adviser
• Whether a family will have the right to rent in the private sector in England

Use the web tool

Read the guidance

A strategic overview of how local authorities deliver social care support to families and adults with no recourse to public funds at risk of or experiencing destitution, informed by the experiences of local authorities that are following different service models.

This guidance should be read by social care managers and lead officers, strategic leads, commissioners and other staff who are responsible for designing services and maintaining a high standard of social care support for people with no recourse to public funds.

This guidance includes:

• A description of the key elements of service delivery
• The different organisational structures that local authorities use to deliver services
• The benefits and challenges of dedicated teams or workers
• How each key element is delivered through the three model service structures, and the challenges presented by each model
• Examples of specialist roles that councils can use to aid service delivery