NRPF and Families

The inability for parents to access benefits like Universal Credit, Housing Benefit and the Child Tax Credit can lead many families to a path of poverty and destitution. Coupled with being locked out of the state welfare system, most migrant families in the UK are unable to rely upon family members for informal care and support, given the eye-watering expenses required for a visa and the increasing financial threshold for individuals to sponsor family members. So unlike many locals and those with secure immigration status, families with NRPF can find themselves lacking state and familial support, forced to contend with childhood with limited support.  

Recent research from Praxis’s ‘Every Child is Equal‘ report makes this clear. Their research suggests that a single parent with NRPF working part-time (16 hours per week) is likely take home £2,600 less annually (a 38 per cent reduction), compared to if they had access to the extended childcare entitlement. For full-time work (36 hours per week), the income gap increases to £3,200 annually (36 per cent less).’ 

The lack of support for childcare costs that families with NRPF face is an intersectional issue that affects parents and children in several ways. Parents with NRPF consistently highlight the condition as a key structural barrier to them gaining employment, and also often leads to underemployment where they can access paid work. Families with NRPF face a heightened risk of poverty, which has a direct effect on outcomes like academic success and health. 

Given the financial disadvantage these families often face, children can grow up in households and neighbourhoods that lack green space and areas for play; this often extends to school, where children in families with NRPF are less likely to be able to engage in paid extra-curricular activities and school trips. 

United Impact, a group of individuals from families with Lived Experience of NRPF, supported by Project 17, produced a deeply personal insight into how the condition affects their and their children’s lives. 

A dependent child is a family member of a primary applicant who holds a valid immigration permission, such as a Skilled Worker visa. Main applicants may bring their children to the UK on a child-dependent visa, provided they meet the relevant criteria, including proof of relationship, suitable accommodation, and financial requirements. 

Generally, a child must live with their parent unless they are away for full-time education, such as at boarding school or university, and are not married or in a civil partnership. For children born outside the UK who are under 18, they qualify if one parent is applying as a partner (with the other parent being the partner they are joining), as a parent with sole parental responsibility, or if the parent holds protection status as a refugee or a person with humanitarian protection.  

Children aged 18 or over who were born outside the UK can only apply as a dependent if they already have permission to stay on a family visa that began when they were under 18. Children born in the UK receive the same permission to stay as their parents, provided they meet the general requirements of living with their parents and remaining unmarried. 

For more information see the Home Office’s caseworker guidance for Appendix Children.

In Scotland, government-funded early education and childcare is not classed as a ‘public fund’ for immigration purposes. This means it can be accessed by a child or their parent regardless of their immigration status, including families with No Recourse to Public Funds (NRPF). 

All 3 and 4-year-olds are eligible to receive 30 hours per week of childcare (1140 hours a year). Only certain 2-year-olds are eligible for 30 hours of childcare. If your family does not satisfy the criteria due to the NRPF condition, then you should contact your local authority, as they have the discretion to offer childcare to disadvantaged families even if the criteria are unmet. 

Working parents in Scotland may be eligible for tax-free childcare. A parent who has NRPF cannot apply for tax-free childcare. Despite this, they can be included in an application made by a partner who meets the residence requirement. 

For a full breakdown of eligibility by immigration status, see the relevant section of COSLA’s Migrants’ Rights and Entitlements.

Primary and secondary education

State-funded primary and secondary education is not classed as a public fund for immigration purposes and can be accessed by a child regardless of their immigration status. Children can receive free education at a state-funded primary or secondary school from age 4 to 16, continuing to age 18 if they are continuing in school education or attending sixth form. It is a legal requirement for children to attend school from compulsory school age until school leaving age.

Children who have leave to enter or remain as a visitor, a child student visa, or a short-term student (aged 16-17) are not able to access state-funded education due to a study restriction.

Further and Higher education (FE) and (HE)

FE and HE funding is not classed as a public fund for immigration purposes and can be accessed by a young person or adult if they are subject to the NRPF condition.

However, to qualify for funding, a student must meet requirements relating to their immigration status and length of residence in the UK.  To qualify for home fees and student support, a student must meet requirements relating to their immigration status and length of residence in the UK. Students who do not qualify for ‘home’ fees will be charged ‘overseas’ fees, which are significantly higher.

Generally, children over 18 must obtain their own permission to enter and can generally no longer be a dependent on your application. However, if a child received a dependent visa before the age of 18 and has yet to start an “independent life” (unmarried, living or financially dependent on the main applicant, and childless), they can continue to extend this visa during its validity. If a child is over 18 and living an independent life, they will have to qualify in their own right. 

It is advised people unsure what to do in this situation seek legal advice when planning their and their children’s next steps. 

Even if a child is a British citizen, they will be unable to access public funds if their parents have NRPF. While the child may be ‘eligible’ for support, they cannot claim benefits in your name that include them, as it is generally the parents immigration status that dictates the household’s access to public funds. 

In rare cases, the child is the main applicant; this is the case for applications for Disability Living Allowance and Child Disability Payment, both of which are public funds. Here, the child’s immigration status, not the parents’, determines eligibility.

For further information, you should read the Home Office’s caseworker guidance.

Eligibility for most benefits, including Child Benefit depends on the parent’s immigration and residence status, rather than the child’s. This means that even if a child is a UK citizen, they cannot access public funds if their parents have NRPF. Eligible parents can claim the benefit regardless of their children’s immigration status.

Where a child has leave to remain with NRPF, their parents should seek legal advice before making any application, as this affects their child’s current and future immigration status. 

Parents with NRPF may be able to apply for Child Benefit should their country of origin maintain a reciprocal social security arrangement with the UK; this includes countries like Barbados and Canada. You can access the full of nations here. 

The law says that local councils must protect the welfare of ‘children in need’ in their area through Section 22 of the Children (Scotland) Act 1995. Child social work teams are obliged to perform a children in need assessment to decide whether support is necessary.

A child is likely to be ‘in need’ if:

• Their family is homeless or  
• Their family does not have enough money to meet basic needs (for example, food and clothing)  

Local councils may have a duty to provide your family with accommodation and/or financial support in this situation. They cannot advise families to return to their country of origin if there is a legal or practical barrier to their return, even if the family is on the country without immigration status, and this in an ‘excluded’ group.

Schedule 3 of the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002 in the UK bars local authorities from providing social services support to certain migrants.  The category of families deemed ineligible for support from local authorities includes families where a parent is one of the following: 

• In breach of immigration laws, for example, is a visa overstayer, an illegal entrant, or an appeal right exhausted (ARE) in-country asylum seeker;  
• A person seeking asylum who is an ARE and has failed to comply with removal directions
• A person with refugee status who has been granted by another European Economic Area (EEA) country, like Germany or France.  

Schedule 3 should not be used as a blunt instrument to automatically refuse a family where a parent is in the relevant category. These families may receive support if it is deemed necessary to prevent a breach of their human rights. 

For more information, please see COSLA’s Migrants Rights and Entitlements Guide’s dedicated section.