Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an assessment of the impact of immigration-based restrictions to public funds on homelessness among non-UK nationals.

Those seeking to establish their life in the UK are generally expected to maintain and support themselves and their families without depending on the UK’s welfare system.

The Home Office Homelessness Escalations Service (HES) provides immigration status information and an escalation service designed to help non-UK national rough sleepers, (or those at risk of such) to access services and support to which they are entitled (where they are granted Permission to Stay in the UK), or otherwise to allow those supporting them to decide what actions to take in the full knowledge of their immigration status.

Safeguards exist for those in need. Those who hold permission under the Family or Private Life, Human Rights or the Hong Kong BN(O) routes can apply, for free, to have their No Recourse to Public Funds (NRPF) condition lifted by making a ‘change of conditions’ application, if they are destitute or at risk of imminent destitution, if there are reasons relating to the welfare of a relevant child, or where they are facing exceptional circumstances affecting their income or expenditure. For all other immigration routes discretion can be applied to lift a NRPF condition, where particularly compelling circumstances may justify access to public funds.

Local authorities may also provide basic safety net support, regardless of immigration status, if it is established either that there is a risk to the wellbeing of a child or there is a genuine care need that does not arise solely from destitution, for example, where a person has community care needs or serious health problems.