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Just one thing… Sinéad O’Connor, Manager of Cheetham Hill Advice Centre

15 Nov 2021 - 14:59 by helen.walker

“The impact of no recourse to public funds has been on my mind a lot lately. No recourse to public funds (NRPF) is seen as a minority issue but it is a significant cause of poverty so it should be a priority issue for us all. We think that the welfare state is available to all that need help. In reality, there are many people in the UK who do not have an automatic right to that support - the help and support the rest of us take for granted. When someone enters the UK to live and work with their families, they can have a condition placed on their immigration status that means they have no recourse to public funds. This creates a situation where people are left facing destitution and exploitation and this creates vulnerabilities for them which are directly created by the system itself. The people who are most affected are children, women, carers and disabled people. Those also most impacted are predominantly Black, Asian and from other racialized communities.

During the first lockdown, there was shared urgency to support people, to prevent destitution and keep people safe. Home Office policies and the immigration system have a clear role to play. We need to think about how things could be done differently and better in the future and importantly how we ensure the UK is a just place to live for us all. There are asylum seekers who have had their claim refused and have no recourse to public funds. However, I will speak about immigration specifically as this is what was most noticeably illuminated over the course of the pandemic.

There are high levels of concern that women and children experiencing domestic abuse are made especially vulnerable by the No Recourse policy. Without the safety net that access to these types of public funds offer, they face increased risk of destitution and exploitation. They feel that their options are abuse, destitution or deportation. The action of leaving an abusive partner is already hazardous and is only magnified even further when people don’t have access to public funds.

It is useful reflecting what NRPF means. Our benefit system is set to ensure people do not go below the poverty line and nothing more. There are specific benefits that are there to meet the needs of growing children, the cost of being a carer and the additional costs faced by Disabled people. NRPF means that specific people do not have access to basic benefits and the result is that they are below the poverty line and not able to cover the costs of growing children, of being a carer and are not able to access adaptations needed as Disabled people. Child benefit is a good example of the welfare state having a policy that benefits all British children - however, not all children in the UK benefit. NRPF means people are not entitled to claim the small amount of money that is so important when raising children. I think we can agree that in a just society, we want the best for all the children who live the UK without exception.

There are times when the NRPF condition can be removed. It is time consuming, heavily bureaucratic and relies on documentary evidence that can be difficult to source. This is a strain on people who already face significant difficulties. Women fleeing domestic abuse can apply for this, but this relies on evidence which they may not have, or asking for support at an earlier stage, potentially exposing themselves to immigration action.

What happens in reality is that, when it comes to children and vulnerable adults, the local authorities have a duty to protect these groups when they face destitution and homelessness. Local authorities have the power to support regardless of the NRPF condition. The policy is dictated by central government, who set the law that created the problem, and leave local authorities to fund the statutory support that is due.

Covid exposed this system. Work disappeared, responsibilities grew and people could not leave the UK. They were left completely exposed with the harshest of realities. In the first six months of the pandemic lockdown, the Home Office helped people much more in lifting the condition. In reality, all that changed was the scale. People have been put in this situation for years - Covid illuminated the harsh impact of the policy. The Home Office’s response in being much more helpful showed how much better this system could work.

There are charities across Manchester who work with people to apply to have the NRPF condition removed with clear grounds to do so. CHAC does this work along with Greater Manchester Immigration Aid Unit, and the Boaz Trust works to provide essential accommodation. CHAC had 16 cases in the first six months of the pandemic where we argued for people to be granted recourse to public funds - as a result people literally had somewhere to live and food in their cupboards. Between March and December 2020, over 3,000 people called GMIAU's phone advice line. 150 people were experiencing domestic abuse or exploitation, made worse by their immigration situation. 230 faced homelessness or destitution, often because their immigration status stopped them from working or accessing benefits.

This free service is always in demand and uses strained resources to address this problem caused by government policy. A change of policy in Whitehall would mean Manchester charities wouldn’t need to do this work, people wouldn’t face destitution, and we would live in a just society that we all agree is doing the right thing. We would take pressure off local authorities. Lots of the elements that cause poverty are complicated, this one isn’t. Removing the NRPF condition would prevent destitution and improve life in the UK.”

You can read more about CHAC’s work during the first year of the Covid pandemic here - https://cheethamadvice.org.uk/ and you can read about the impact of the UK immigration system in Manchester and the North West in Greater Manchester Immigration Aid Unit's 2021 report - https://gmiau.org/out-now-gmiau-2021-report/
 


This interview was featured in P&I Shorts, the fortnightly VCSE policy update. We interview leaders in our sector about important social issues of the day. To sign up to P&I Shorts, please click on this link


 

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