Dickson, Eve;
Rosen, Rachel;
(2023)
Section 17 support for families with ‘no recourse to public funds’ (NRPF) in London.
University College London (UCL): London, UK.
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Abstract
Around 1.376 million people with time-limited ‘leave to remain’ are subject to the ‘no recourse to public funds’ (NRPF) condition in the UK, while a further 674,000 undocumented people have NRPF by default. Single-parent families, mainly headed by mothers, have been shown to be most negatively impacted by the policy. In theory, destitute families with NRPF should be able to access local authority support under section 17 of the Children Act 1989. Under this legislation, local authorities can provide accommodation and financial support to some families with NRPF. Data from the NRPF Network shows that at least 1650 families (comprising 2903 dependants) were supported by 72 local authorities across the UK as of 31 March 2022. Of these, 61% (1000 families, 1711 dependants) were supported by London local authorities. However, the overall number of destitute families with NRPF is likely to be much higher. As well as legal restrictions in the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002 excluding some families from section 17 support, frontline workers’ conceptions of ‘deservingness’ are a key determinant of who is able to access support. Many families who try to access local authority support are turned away and those who do manage to access support are often provided with exceptionally low levels (Dexter et al., 2016) – an issue we focus on in this briefing. For cash-strapped local authorities, lack of funding to cover the costs of supporting families with NRPF is a key issue. With families’ needs being produced by punitive immigration restrictions, section 17 support is often seen by local government bodies as a form of ‘cost-shunting’.
| Type: | Report |
|---|---|
| Title: | Section 17 support for families with ‘no recourse to public funds’ (NRPF) in London |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| Publisher version: | https://solidarities.net/policy-briefing-section-1... |
| Language: | English |
| Keywords: | NRPF, Migration, Welfare, Family migration |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education > UCL Institute of Education UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education > UCL Institute of Education > IOE - Social Research Institute |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10177548 |
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