No recourse to Public Funds (NRPF) in Herefordshire Council as 5th February 2025
Case reference FOI2025/00280
Received 6 February 2025
Published 19 February 2025
Request
Our project aims to analyse the various forms of assistance and support offered nationwide by local authority Children’s Services departments to families with No Recourse to Public Funds (NRPF) restrictions under section 17 of the Children Act 1989. Amongst other things, we are interested in the differing levels of support provided to families who do not have a recognised right to reside in the UK, and so are subject to section 17 eligibility exclusions under Schedule 3 of the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002, and those who do have a recognised right to reside, and so are subject to no such exclusions, in the wake of the High Court judgement The King (on the application of BCD by his Litigation Friend EFG) v Birmingham Children’s Trust [2024]. With this aim in mind, I respectfully request access to the following information under the Freedom of Information Act:
1.Please provide your record of the numbers of families with children where parents/carers are subject to the NRPF condition and who are presently supported by your Children’s Services team(s) under section 17 of the Children Act as of 5th February 2025.
2. Please provide your record of the total number of children is such households, presently supported by your Children’s Services team(s) under section 17 of the Children Act as of 5th February 2025
3. Please provide your record of the numbers of families supported by your Children’s Services team(s) under s17 of the Children Act where parents/carers are subject to the NRPF condition and are being provided with financial support at the ‘subsistence standard’- i.e., analogous to Home Office Asylum Support rates – as of 5th February 2025.
4. Please provide your record of the numbers of families supported by your Children’s Services team(S) under s17 of the Children Act where parents/carers are subject to the NRPF condition and are being provided with financial support at the ‘welfare standard’- i.e, analogous to welfare benefits/foster care rates- as of 5th February 2025
5. Please provide your record of the numbers of families where parents/carers subject to the NRPF condition have approached your Children’s Services Teams and subsequently had applications for financial support denied following an assessment of need under s17 of the Children Act in the 12 months between 5th February 2024 and 5th February 2025.
6. Please provide a breakdown of the financial support levels available to families where parents/carers are subject to the NRPF condition and who are being provided with financial support by your Children’s Services team(s) at the ‘subsistence standard’- i.e. analogous to Home Office Asylum Support rates.
7. Please provide a breakdown of the financial support levels available to families where parents/carers are subject to the NRPF condition and who are being provided with financial support by your Children’s Services team(s) at the ‘welfare standard’- i.e. analogous to welfare benefits/foster care rates.
8. Please provide your record of the numbers of families supported by your Children’s Services team(S) under s17 of the Children Act where parents/carers are subject to the NRPF condition, and who are subject to the section 17 eligibility restrictions set down in Schedule 3 of the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002, but who are being provided with financial support beyond the basic subsistence level following an assessment of need.
Response
Our project aims to analyse the various forms of assistance and support offered nationwide by local authority Children’s Services departments to families with No Recourse to Public Funds (NRPF) restrictions under section 17 of the Children Act 1989. Amongst other things, we are interested in the differing levels of support provided to families who do not have a recognised right to reside in the UK, and so are subject to section 17 eligibility exclusions under Schedule 3 of the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002, and those who do have a recognised right to reside, and so are subject to no such exclusions, in the wake of the High Court judgement The King (on the application of BCD by his Litigation Friend EFG) v Birmingham Children’s Trust [2024].
With this aim in mind, I respectfully request access to the following information under the Freedom of Information Act:
1.Please provide your record of the numbers of families with children where parents/carers are subject to the NRPF condition and who are presently supported by your Children’s Services team(s) under section 17 of the Children Act as of 5th February 2025.
2. Please provide your record of the total number of children is such households, presently supported by your Children’s Services team(s) under section 17 of the Children Act as of 5th February 2025
3. Please provide your record of the numbers of families supported by your Children’s Services team(s) under s17 of the Children Act where parents/carers are subject to the NRPF condition and are being provided with financial support at the ‘subsistence standard’- i.e., analogous to Home Office Asylum Support rates – as of 5th February 2025.
4. Please provide your record of the numbers of families supported by your Children’s Services team(S) under s17 of the Children Act where parents/carers are subject to the NRPF condition and are being provided with financial support at the ‘welfare standard’- i.e, analogous to welfare benefits/foster care rates- as of 5th February 2025
5. Please provide your record of the numbers of families where parents/carers subject to the NRPF condition have approached your Children’s Services Teams and subsequently had applications for financial support denied following an assessment of need under s17 of the Children Act in the 12 months between 5th February 2024 and 5th February 2025.
6. Please provide a breakdown of the financial support levels available to families where parents/carers are subject to the NRPF condition and who are being provided with financial support by your Children’s Services team(s) at the ‘subsistence standard’- i.e. analogous to Home Office Asylum Support rates.
7. Please provide a breakdown of the financial support levels available to families where parents/carers are subject to the NRPF condition and who are being provided with financial support by your Children’s Services team(s) at the ‘welfare standard’- i.e. analogous to welfare benefits/foster care rates.
8. Please provide your record of the numbers of families supported by your Children’s Services team(S) under s17 of the Children Act where parents/carers are subject to the NRPF condition, and who are subject to the section 17 eligibility restrictions set down in Schedule 3 of the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002, but who are being provided with financial support beyond the basic subsistence level following an assessment of need.
Answer: This information is not held in a form that would enable it to be located, retrieved and extracted within the Appropriate Time Limit which equates to 18 hours as defined by the Freedom of Information and Data Protection (Appropriate Limits and Fees) Regulations 2004.
Unfortunately we have no way of identifying families with no recourse to public other than a manual search of all of the section 17 assessments undertaken in the last year. There have been 1587 assessments, they would take 5 minutes per record to check to for the relevant information.
This would at a conservative estimate take at least 132 hours to complete. Where the Limit is exceeded Public Authorities are not obliged to supply the information requested by virtue of S12 of the Act. Please take this letter as a refusal notice under S17 of the Act.
We could answer the question - How many referrals have been received by Children’s Services to date, where NRPF has been a factor from Novemeber 2024. Please let me know if you would like this information.
Documents
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