Migrants: Universal Credit
(asked on 21st June 2022) - View Source
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will hold discussions with Cabinet colleagues on amending the immigration regulations governing No Recourse to Public Funds to enable emergency access to Universal Credit for parents who become unable to work due to (a) ill-health or (b) caring responsibilities.
The Home Office is committed to further exploring data availability on No Recourse to Public Funds (NRPF) and migrant poverty, including children in poverty, while recognising the challenges posed in identifying and gathering the relevant data.
Published correspondence between the Home Office and UK Statistics Authority sets out our proposals for further work to investigate data on migrant poverty:
There are no plans to amend the regulations governing NRPF to enable emergency access to Universal Credit for parents who become unable to work due to ill-health or caring responsibilities.
Temporary immigration status holders are generally required to support themselves and any accompanying family members, including children, in the UK without recourse to public funds. This is a well-established principle which prevents access to taxpayer-funded public services from being the basis of migration to this country. The general expectation is temporary immigration status holders who can no longer financially support themselves and their families in the UK will return to their home country.
Safeguards exist to ensure people receive support where they are destitute, at risk of destitution, or have community care needs, including issues relating to human rights or the wellbeing of children. For example, people with leave under the family and human rights routes, and those who have been granted leave on the Hong Kong British National (Overseas) visa route as a British National (Overseas) status holder or a family member of a British National (Overseas) status holder, can apply, for free, to have their NRPF condition lifted by making a ‘change of condition’ 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. Local authorities may also provide basic safety net support, regardless of immigration status, if it is established there is a genuine care need that does not arise solely from destitution.
People who have made the necessary national insurance contributions can also claim contributory benefits such as contribution-based Jobseekers Allowance, statutory sick pay and state pension.