Family Early Help
What is No Recourse to Public Funds (NRPF)
This guide from BASW explains NRPF and ideas for how we can help.
Here is a link to information from the National NRPF Network about support for families who have NRPF Children's services (families) | NRPF Network
You can also find other helpful information and advice on the NRPF Network website here https://www.nrpfnetwork.org.uk/
Support Options for Families with NRPF
The NRPF Network has created a really useful web-based tool to help you work out what support is available for families with NRPF. You can find it here Housing and support options for migrant families | Compas (nrpfnetwork.org.uk)
And Project 17 have produced this helpful factsheet on a range of support available to families with NRPF, including:
- Free school meals
- Pupil premium
- Nursery places
- Education
- NHS care
- Legal aid
- Child maintenance
- Healthy start vouchers
- Benefits
- Child benefit
- Disability living allowance
Section 95 Support
Section 95 support is part of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999. It is aimed at asylum seekers whose claims are ongoing, who are destitute or about to become destitute, and their dependents. You can ready more about s95 support here
http://www.asaproject.org/uploads/Factsheet_1_-_section_95.pdf
Section 98 Support
Section 98 support is temporary support for asylum seekers who appear to be destitute and who have applied for section 95 support and are awaiting a decision. Families arriving in the UK should automatically be granted s98 support.
Section 98 support is supposed to be provided for a short period. Generally it is a
full-board hostel. However, in some locations, it is self-catering and cash is given to individual in order to buy food. In both situations, it is referred to as initial accommodation (or IA).
http://www.asaproject.org/uploads/Factsheet_17_-_s98_Support_Nov_18.pdf
Section 17 Support
Section 17 is part of the Children Act 1989. S17 gives local authorities the power to provide support, including accommodation and financial subsistence to families with ‘children in need’, even if they have no recourse to public funds.
You can read more about s17 in the context of families with NRPF here
and here is a guide to s17 for families produced by Project 17
guide-to-section-17-support-sept-22.pdf (project17.org.uk)
This guide from Corams Childrens Legal Centre will help walk you through section 17 eligibility for families who have NRPF Section-17-support-July-2019-FINAL.pdf (childrenslegalcentre.com)
Section 4 Support
Section 4(2) of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999 allows support for refused asylum-seekers. It is for people who have had their application for asylum refused and who have exhausted their appeal routes.
To qualify for s4 support, refused asylum-seekers must be destitute and meet a narrow set of criteria. The support consists of accommodation and £35.39 a week via a pre-paid Visa card (ASPEN card). Extra money is available to pregnant women and mothers of children under 3.
Dependents of refused asylum-seekers may also qualify for s4 support, but if they were born before the person exhausted their appeal rights, they may still qualify for s95 support until their youngest child turns 18.
You can find more information about s4 support here:
http://www.asaproject.org/uploads/Factsheet_2_-_Section_4_support.pdf
How Financial Support is Given
The Home Office will provide the financial support to migrant families and families seeking asylum through something called an ASPEN card. This is a pre-payment debit card.
The Home Office send the ASPEN card to the family wherever they are staying. Sometimes this is to an initial accommodation, dispersed accommodation (temporary accommodation) or to whatever location the family may be staying in London.
Contact contact Migrant Help and the Home Office for any problems with ASPEN cards:
Migrant Help https://www.migranthelpuk.org/pages/category/asylum
Home Office (please quote the persons full name, date of birth, address and AS number) [email protected]
Here is an FAQs about the ASPEN card.
Who Is Responsible for Providing Support?
Whether the Home Office or local authority will be responsible for providing accommodation and financial support depends on the type of Home Office support that a family are eligible for under the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999: section 4, section 95 or neither.
The local authority would need to check with the Home Office to establish the status of the parent’s asylum claim in order to determine which type of support is available to them.
Really important to note that asylum-seeking families with children who are entitled to support under section 95 are excluded from receiving support under section 17. This includes families with dependent children whose asylum claims have been refused, where the dependent child was part of their household before their asylum claim was fully refused.
So its important you know what other options are available for families who can't get s17 support. You can find out more about s95 in the links above.
You can read more about this here:
Assessing Destitution
This document from the Home Office and gives guidance on determining whether a person applying for support under either Section 98, 95 or 4 of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999 is destitute or at risk of destitution and therefore meets one of the qualifying criteria to receive that support.
Applying for Support for Destitution
Here is a link to the form to apply to the Home Office for section 95 or section 4 support if a family is destitute or at risk of destitution. Its a complicated form that asks for a lot of information, so it is likely families will need support to complete it.
In most cases, Migrant Help are commissioned by the Home Office to provide support to complete this application form. If the family are not aware of Migrant Help, or have not been contacted by Migrant Help, you can find their contact details here https://www.migranthelpuk.org/
NRPF Lift Applications - Applying to Lift Your NRPF status
People with Limited Leave to Remain with NRPF can apply to remove the NRPF restriction on their leave. If successful, the application changes the conditions of leave, enabling the person to access to public funds like welfare benefits and social housing. There are very specific circumstances that allow you to apply to lift NRPF. You can find more information about this here
https://www.childrenslegalcentre.com/resources/no-recourse-public-funds-nrpf/
The Unity Project offer a free service to help people complete the 'Change of Conditions' form required to apply to lift NRPF restrictions. You can find contact details here
Legal Aid and NRPF
Legal aid is not classed as a public fund for immigration purposes and can be accessed by a person regardless of their immigration status, including a person who is subject to the ‘no recourse to public funds’ (NRPF) condition.
However, legal aid is only available for some types of cases and very few immigration matters, which means that many people who are on a low income will not be able to access free legal advice.
You can find more information here Introduction | NRPF (nrpfnetwork.org.uk)
Free School Meals Eligibility and NRPF
As of April 2022, all children who have NRPF are eligible for free school meals.
More information here Providing free school meals to families with no recourse to public funds (NRPF) - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Child Maintenance and NRPF
Child maintenance is not classed as a public fund for immigration purposes so a parent can apply for this regardless of their or their child’s immigration status, including when the parent is subject to the ‘no recourse to public funds’ (NRPF) condition.
However, the parent who is caring for the child, the non-resident parent and the child must all be habitually resident in the UK. A person can be habitually resident regardless of what type of immigration status they have
You can find more information here Child maintenance | NRPF (nrpfnetwork.org.uk)
Healthy Start Food Vouchers and Vitamins for Families with NRPF
Families who have NRPF and have a child under the age of 4 are eligible for Health Start vouchers and vitamins (usual criteria applies).
More information here healthy-start-vouchers-june-2021.pdf (project17.org.uk)
and more information about how to apply for Healthy Start vouchers and vitamins here:
Special Educational Needs and NRPF
Assistance for children or young people with special educational needs, or who are subject to an EHC plan, is not classed as a public fund for immigration purposes and can be accessed by a child regardless of their, or their parent's, immigration status, including a person who is subject to the ‘no recourse to public funds’ (NRPF) condition.
You can find more information here Special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) | NRPF (nrpfnetwork.org.uk)
Chargeable NHS Services and NRPF
Some services can be accessed by anyone, regardless of their immigration status, but will need to be paid for if the person is not exempt from charges or if they do not qualify for full or partial help with health costs under the low income scheme.
These services are:
- NHS prescriptions
- NHS dental treatment (including community dental treatment)
- Sight tests, glasses and contact lenses
- Travel to receive NHS treatment
- NHS wigs and fabric supports
A person will be exempt if they are:
- Age 60 or over
- Age under 16
- Age 16-18 and in full-time education
- Pregnant, or had a baby in the previous 12 months, and has a valid maternity exemption certificate
- Holding a medical exemption certificate because they have a certain medical condition – see the NHS list of applicable medical conditions
If none of the exemptions above apply, a person who has a low income may be able to obtain an HC2 certificate through the NHS Low Income Scheme. This would entitle them to full or partial help towards costs.
A person can apply for an HC2 certificate regardless of their immigration status. If they have no recourse to public funds (NRPF) and are receiving support from a council, charity or voluntary sector organisation, they would need to provide a letter outlining details of any assistance they are receiving.
People eligible for Section 95 support are currently automatically issued with HC2 regardless of accommodation they may be in. The Home Office are now updating weekly so that HC2s can be issued, but in cases where this is overdue or needs to be fast tracked due to a health need, this can be reported to Migrant Help.
For anybody who is not yet eligible for support, they will need to complete the HC1 form in order to apply for the HC2 certificate. Migrant Help provides a free telephone service 24 hours a day, 365 days a year to service users on a range of services including Covid-19.
An HC1 form can be requested from NHS choices. See also the NHS information on help with health costs.
More information here
Emergency Dental Care and NRPF
All regions have in place access to emergency dental and optometry care treatments for their population, which includes migrant families, families seeking asylum and family who have NRPF. Local dentists and details on how to access urgent dental care can be found here.
Early Years, Childcare and NRPF
Government funded early education and childcare is not classed as a public fund for immigration purposes, so can be accessed by a child regardless of their immigration status. However, some schemes have eligibility requirements relating to the immigration status of the parent(s) and so may not be available to all families.
More information here Early education and childcare | NRPF (nrpfnetwork.org.uk)
General Advice for Health Needs for People with NRPF
This useful toolkit from the BMA will be helpful for supporting families through the UK health system
Employment and NRPF
Generally, people seeking asylum who have no recourse to public funds are not permitted to work. However, the immigration rules allow for you to request permission to work if you have been waiting for more than 12 months on your asylum claim “through no fault of your own”. This may be 12 months after initially claiming asylum, or 12 months after submitting further submissions to be considered as a fresh claim.
Almost everybody granted permission to work under this policy is only allowed to work in a job on the Home Office’s shortage occupation list.
You can find more information about this here Applying for Permission to Work (Asylum) – Right to Remain
High Court Judgement Challenges NRPF Rules
A recent case in May 2020 saw the High Court rule that the NRPF policy breaches Article 3 of the ECHR, which prohibits inhuman and degrading treatment. This may lead to a change in the NRPF definition to include those 'at risk of destitution'.
If you are aware of, or working with, a family who are NRPF but are at risk of destitution, please contact Legal Services or Childrens Social Care for advice.