Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the oral contribution of the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department of 8 October 2020, Official Report, column 223WH, what progress her Department has made on improving the time taken to determine applications for exemption from the No Recourse to Public Funds condition.

Migrants with leave under the Family and Human Rights routes can apply, for free, to have their NRPF condition lifted by making a ‘change of conditions’ application if they are destitute or at risk of destitution, if the welfare of their child is at risk due to their low income, or where there are other exceptional financial circumstances.

Change of conditions decisions are being prioritised and are being dealt with compassionately. This approach is working. Data published in November shows that 85% of change of condition applications have been granted and the average time taken to make a decision is now just 17 days, down from 45 days in the previous quarter.

Local authorities, who have been allocated more than £6.4 billion to help them respond to Covid-19 pressures across all the services they deliver, may provide basic safety net support, regardless of immigration status, if it is established that there is a genuine care need that does not arise solely from destitution.