Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to ensure coordination between her Department and the Department for Work and Pensions when monitoring foreign nationals' eligibility for Universal Credit.

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) applies strict compliance and benefit eligibility checks to all claimants regardless of their nationality. In addition to verifying a claimant’s identity, DWP always checks a person’s immigration status before paying them benefits if they are a foreign national. The DWP verify this information with the Home Office, including through automatic system-to-system checks, which the Home Office is increasingly rolling out to other Government departments and public authorities.

The data made available through those system-to-system checks is specific to the need of each department and contains only the necessary information to inform their decision making.

No Recourse to Public Funds (NRPF) is a standard condition applied to most categories of temporary immigration permission, which prevents those who are subject to immigration control from accessing certain services or benefits.

Those who are in the UK without lawful status are also prevented from accessing public funds. This includes access to Universal Credit.