Legal Update: Poverty as immigration control

On 3 June, the Centre on Migration, Policy and Society (Compas) at the University of Oxford published a study, Safeguarding Children From Destitution, showing that thousands of children – many of them British citizens – become trapped in poverty and vulnerability due to their parents being subject to the "no recourse to public funds" policy. No recourse to public funds (NRPF) is a condition imposed by the Home Office on many categories of individuals subject to immigration control, giving them no entitlement to welfare benefits or public housing. Those without valid leave to remain in the UK have no recourse to public funds and are also not permitted to work. When circumstances deteriorate, due to, for example, relationship breakdown, families can find themselves destitute and unable either to support themselves or to rely on benefits to assist them in rising out of poverty.