Immigrants: Children

(asked on 4th June 2020) - View Source

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate she has made of the number of applicants with dependants under the age of 18 who are on the 10 year route to settlement with no recourse to public funds attached to their leave to remain application.


Answered by
Chris Philp Portrait
Chris Philp
Minister of State (Home Office)
This question was answered on 12th June 2020

We do not currently have estimates of the number of migrants who are in the UK and subject to no recourse to public funds (NRPF) at any given time.

Migrants coming to the UK are expected to maintain and support themselves and their families without posing a burden on the UK’s welfare system. Access to benefits and other publicly funded services reflects the strength of a migrant’s connections to the UK.

The Home Office publish a range of statistics on entry clearance visas, and extensions of leave in the UK in the quarterly Immigration Statistics (https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/immigration-statistics-quarterly-release). However, these do not show the number of people subject to NRPF.

Local welfare provision is not classed as a public fund for immigration purposes as set out in the Immigration Rules on GOV.UK https://www.gov.uk/guidance/immigration-rules/immigration-rules-index.

The Home Office is working closely with other government departments to support people, including migrants with NRPF, through this pandemic. We have announced a range of measures to ensure people can stay safe and many of these are available for those with a NRPF condition, such as protection for renters from evictions, a mortgage holiday for those who need it.

I can confirm the assistance being given under the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme and the Self-employed Income Support Scheme are not classed as public funds and are available to all those in work or self-employment respectively, including those with NRPF status and those on zero-hour contracts.? Statutory sick pay and some other work-related benefits are also not classed as public funds and so are also available to all.

The Government has outlined the support available to migrants, including those with NRPF, which can be found at https://www.gov.uk/guidance/coronavirus-covid-19-get-support-if-youre-a-migrant-living-in-the-uk.

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