Asked by: Siân Berry (Green Party - Brighton Pavilion)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what response she has to the recommendation of the October 2025 final report of the Poverty Strategy Commission that parents with No Recourse to Public Funds conditions who have children who are British citizens should have access to child-related public funds, including Child Benefit and access to support for childcare.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
Child Benefit is a payment made to individuals who are responsible for a child or children irrespective of the child’s nationality. No Recourse to Public Funds (NRPF) is a standard condition applied to most categories of temporary immigration permission. Those with NRPF do not generally have access to public funds, including Child Benefit. The expectation of the Government is that in general migrants coming into the UK should be able to maintain and accommodate themselves and their dependents without recourse to public funds.
Asked by: Richard Burgon (Labour - Leeds East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when she last held a meeting with Ministers responsible for the Child Poverty Strategy to discuss the (a) potential implication of lengthened immigration routes and (b) No Recourse to Public Funds condition for children’s living standards; and when she plans to hold the next meeting.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The earned settlement proposals are subject to consultation, which will be launched later this year. No final decisions on the policy will be made until the consultation concludes.
The Home Office has agreed that children whose families have No Recourse to Public Funds (NRPF) should be included in the scope of the Government’s Child Poverty Strategy. The Child Poverty Strategy is due to be published later this year. I will continue to discuss and shape the approach with my officials and Government Ministers ahead of its publication.
Asked by: Richard Burgon (Labour - Leeds East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made with Cabinet colleagues of the potential impact of the (a) lengthening of immigration routes to settlement and (b) No Recourse to Public Funds condition on the ability to meet objectives under the Child Poverty Strategy.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The earned settlement proposals are subject to consultation, which will be launched later this year. No final decisions on the policy will be made until the consultation concludes.
The Home Office has agreed that children whose families have No Recourse to Public Funds (NRPF) should be included in the scope of the Government’s Child Poverty Strategy. The Child Poverty Strategy is due to be published later this year. I will continue to discuss and shape the approach with my officials and Government Ministers ahead of its publication.
Asked by: Richard Burgon (Labour - Leeds East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department (a) is engaging in the development of the Child Poverty Strategy and (b) will implement an exemption for families with children under 18 from the No Recourse to Public Funds condition.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The earned settlement proposals are subject to consultation, which will be launched later this year. No final decisions on the policy will be made until the consultation concludes.
The Home Office has agreed that children whose families have No Recourse to Public Funds (NRPF) should be included in the scope of the Government’s Child Poverty Strategy. The Child Poverty Strategy is due to be published later this year. I will continue to discuss and shape the approach with my officials and Government Ministers ahead of its publication.
Asked by: Lord Godson (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many Universal Credit claimants were recorded in the last 12 months who were categorised as (1) refugees, (2) having pre-settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme, (3) having settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme, (4) having indefinite leave to remain, and (5) having limited leave to remain.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
To access Universal Credit a person must be British, Irish, have a right of abode, or have a valid UK immigration status that permits recourse to public funds as well as meeting all the other entitlement conditions. The Department recently published Universal Credit Immigration status and Nationality summary statistics through ODS tables on GOV.UK.
For statistical production purposes, immigration status data has been categorised into 8 groups (see attached document).
Taken from the published statistics, the following table shows the number of people on Universal Credit by immigration status for each month from August 2024 to July 2025. The additional breakdowns requested for the EU Settlement Scheme are not readily available and to provide them would incur disproportionate cost.
Total number of people on Universal Credit by Immigration status each month from August 2024 to July 2025, Great Britain
Immigration status by month | CTA - UK, Ireland, Right of Abode | EU Settlement Scheme | Humanitarian | Refugee | Indefinite Leave to Remain (not EU Settlement Scheme) | Limited Leave to Remain (not EU Settlement Scheme) including Family Reunion | Other | No immigration status recorded on digital systems |
Jul-25 | 6,702,864 | 770,213 | 54,259 | 120,040 | 213,666 | 75,471 | 33,387 | 31,340 |
Jun-25 | 6,567,506 | 764,429 | 53,810 | 117,623 | 210,513 | 74,694 | 32,998 | 29,912 |
May-25 | 6,457,433 | 763,687 | 78,323 | 90,709 | 208,348 | 74,322 | 32,880 | 30,789 |
Apr-25 | 6,400,356 | 765,451 | 78,780 | 90,217 | 204,378 | 75,506 | 33,300 | 31,468 |
Mar-25 | 6,321,762 | 764,489 | 76,418 | 91,350 | 198,973 | 76,960 | 32,829 | 32,315 |
Feb-25 | 6,249,383 | 762,478 | 75,466 | 90,619 | 194,303 | 76,918 | 32,866 | 33,054 |
Jan-25 | 6,138,815 | 757,768 | 68,526 | 95,882 | 187,556 | 77,237 | 31,908 | 34,060 |
Dec-24 | 6,104,580 | 759,179 | 53,291 | 112,472 | 179,482 | 79,539 | 32,141 | 34,792 |
Nov-24 | 6,034,441 | 755,941 | 52,210 | 113,186 | 165,869 | 86,973 | 31,783 | 35,770 |
Oct-24 | 5,935,808 | 748,299 | 51,214 | 110,816 | 160,615 | 89,054 | 30,840 | 37,059 |
Sep-24 | 5,862,022 | 739,155 | 51,132 | 110,535 | 159,504 | 88,326 | 29,957 | 38,184 |
Aug-24 | 5,760,130 | 734,637 | 51,309 | 110,834 | 155,939 | 87,182 | 29,451 | 39,332 |
Source: Universal Credit Immigration status and nationality summary statistics
Notes
Asked by: Lord Godson (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many Universal Credit claimants were recorded in non-UK immigration status groups in each year since 2019.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
To access Universal Credit a person must be British, Irish, have a right of abode, or have a valid UK immigration status that permits recourse to public funds as well as meeting all the other entitlement conditions. The Department recently published Universal Credit Immigration status and Nationality summary statistics through ODS tables on GOV.UK.
For statistical production purposes, immigration status data has been categorised into 8 groups (further details provided in Table Guidance in the attached document).
Taken from the published statistics, the following table shows the number of people on Universal Credit by immigration status for each April from 2022 to 2025. Data is not held prior to April 2022.
Total number of people on Universal Credit by Immigration status for April 2022 to April 2025, Great Britain
Immigration status by month | CTA – UK, Ireland, Right of Abode | EU Settlement Scheme | Humanitarian | Refugee | Indefinite Leave to Remain (not EU Settlement Scheme) | Limited Leave to Remain (not EU Settlement Scheme) including Family Reunion | Other | No immigration status recorded on digital systems |
Apr-25 | 6,400,356 | 765,451 | 78,780 | 90,217 | 204,378 | 75,506 | 33,300 | 31,468 |
Apr-24 | 5,519,088 | 720,365 | 49,817 | 107,486 | 142,884 | 84,558 | 27,134 | 25,894 |
Apr-23 | 4,859,348 | 671,620 | 47,020 | 75,372 | 113,548 | 77,363 | 16,590 | 35,846 |
Apr-22 | 4,611,046 | 644,847 | 3,221 | 64,423 | 95,612 | 68,883 | 6,484 | 51,600 |
Source: Universal Credit Immigration status and nationality summary statistics
Notes
Asked by: Kate Osamor (Labour (Co-op) - Edmonton and Winchmore Hill)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent estimate her Department has made of the number of British citizen children living in households subject to No Recourse to Public Funds.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The No Recourse to Public Funds (NRPF) condition applies to the vast majority of adult temporary migrants in the UK and those without legal status, many of whom may not be in touch with the Home Office. Data on the children within migrant families is not routinely collected. However, the Home Office regularly engages with stakeholders via the NRPF forum which provides a platform to raise concerns and share experiences of those affected by the policy.
Asked by: Kate Osamor (Labour (Co-op) - Edmonton and Winchmore Hill)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate his Department has made of the number of children in households impacted by No Recourse to Public Funds living in poverty.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
No such estimate has been made.
In developing a Child Poverty Strategy, the Taskforce is considering all children across the United Kingdom.
Asked by: Kate Osamor (Labour (Co-op) - Edmonton and Winchmore Hill)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of uprating the maximum income threshold for free school meals eligibility for children in families with No Recourse to Public Funds in line with the eligibility criteria introduced on 4 June 2025.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
I refer my hon. Friend, the Member for Edmonton and Winchmore Hill, to the answer of 24 September 2025 to Question 76012.
Asked by: Kate Osamor (Labour (Co-op) - Edmonton and Winchmore Hill)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many children in families subject to No Recourse to Public Funds have received the concession on access to free school meals since 2022 by (a) region and (b) year.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
I refer my hon. Friend, the Member for Edmonton and Winchmore Hill, to the answer of 24 September 2025 to Question 76011.