Child Benefit: Immigrants

(asked on 1st June 2020) - View Source

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether child benefit is payable in respect of a child who is a UK national but whose parents have leave to remain in the UK with no recourse to public funds; and if he will make a statement.


Answered by
Steve Barclay Portrait
Steve Barclay
Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
This question was answered on 8th June 2020

I refer the Hon. Member to the answer given on 21st October 2019. Access to Child Benefit follows the long-standing Government policy that those who have not established their right to remain permanently in the UK should not have welfare provision on the same basis as those whose citizenship or status here gives them an entitlement to benefits. All those admitted to the UK for a temporary purpose are required, under the immigration rules, to be able to maintain and accommodate themselves without recourse to public funds.

For this reason, apart from specified exceptions – set out in the Social Security (Immigration and Asylum Consequential Amendments) Regulations 2000 – persons subject to immigration control are not eligible for Child Benefit.

However, individuals who have no recourse to public funds can access many services including the NHS, statutory sick pay and some other work-related benefits. Local Authorities also have a statutory duty to provide support to families subject to the NRPF condition where a child’s wellbeing is in question.

In addition, they are able to access support measures put in place to respond to the Covid-19 global pandemic, including the Job Retention and Self-Employed Income Support schemes, free school meals, mortgage payment holidays and protection from eviction.

Eligible immigrants with a condition of NRPF can apply to the Home Office to have this lifted if their financial circumstances change.

Further information on the support that is available for migrants subject to NRPF can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/coronavirus-covid-19-get-support-if-youre-a-migrant-living-in-the-uk.

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