No Recourse to Public Funds - Briefing

June 2024

No Recourse to Public Funds (NRPF) is an immigration policy that prevents most migrants in the UK from accessing most forms of welfare support, regardless of whether they are working or have been here a long time. This briefing sets out the impact of this policy on communities, on local authorities, and our recommended changes.

NRPF is an immigration policy but the harms it causes cut across policy areas including welfare, education, housing and homelessness, health and employment. Any government that aims to reduce child poverty or homelessness will find these goals impossible to achieve without immigration policy reform. The most effective way to mitigate the harms and costs created by NRPF would be to scrap it entirely, and instead allow existing means-testing to determine who can access what benefits. We recognise this goal may take time to achieve and recommend the following intermediate steps:

  1. Cease applying NRPF to the visas of anyone on a pathway to settlement, to give future permanent residents and citizens the stability they need to build their lives here;

  2. Cease applying NRPF to the visas of any parents of children under 18, to ensure that all children can be effectively protected against poverty and destitution;

  3. In the interim, radically simplify and extend the scope of the change of conditions process so that it is easier for anyone who needs to do so to lift the condition from their visa;

  4. Cap routes to settlement at five years maximum to reduce the length of time people spend subject to NRPF

Anya Jhotibriefing