Last updated July 2026.
What does 'no recourse to public funds' mean
A person’s ability to work or access public funds in the UK if they are not a British or Irish citizen is determined by their immigration status. People who have no recourse to public funds (NRPF) have an immigration status that means they cannot access most benefits provided by the government, or certain types of support offered by local authorities.
People who have leave to enter or remain in the UK with a ‘no recourse to public funds’ condition include: people entering the UK on a student or spouse visa; people who have overstayed their visa; people with pending asylum applications; and people who have made an unsuccessful immigration or asylum application with no further rights to appeal the decision.
Section 115(1) of the Immigration and Asylum Act (1999) and Rule 6 of the Immigration Rules set out the benefits and public funds which are not accessible for individuals with no recourse, as detailed in full in government guidance. These include child benefit, universal credit, housing benefit, personal independence payments (PIP), income-based jobseekers’ allowance, income support and carers’ allowance. In addition, people with no recourse to public funds are excluded from local authority homelessness and housing assistance, and do not qualify for council tax benefit.
Statutory social work services are available to children and families with NRPF, as are compulsory school-age education and free school meals. Visitors are not eligible for free healthcare, and they are required to pay for their treatment if they fall ill during their visit to UK. Students and people who apply for a spouse visa are required to pay an NHS surcharge as a part of their visa requirement.
Local authority duties for people with no recourse to public funds
The Children Act 1989 gives local authorities a statutory duty to safeguard and promote the welfare of a child in need, as well as promoting children remaining with their families. This duty can be delivered by providing accommodation and financial support under section 17 of the Children Act 1989 (‘section 17 support’) to families with no recourse to public funds.
The local authority has a duty to carry out an assessment of need for all children who may be in need within their local authority area, regardless of their parents’ immigration status. In Leeds, this is a Child and Family Assessment.
The exclusion of people with no recourse to public funds from the above benefits available to other low-income families often results in families with no recourse experiencing financial hardship and experiencing or being at risk of homelessness. Therefore, the majority of children in households with no recourse to public funds could be classed as being in need.
In addition to exploring the children’s needs and the capacity of the family to meet those needs within their current financial situation, the assessment should consider the immigration status of each person in the family, the circumstances of their entry to the UK, whether they qualify for Home Office asylum support, and information about their nationality and whether they would be safe in the event of returning to their home country.
If the assessment concludes that the child is in need, the Child in Need (CIN) procedures must be followed as for any other child or family with a CIN plan. Section 17 is an ongoing duty, and local authorities must consider whether a child’s needs have changed when a family’s circumstances change.
People in specific circumstances with no recourse to public funds
Pregnant people
A pregnant person with no recourse to public funds can be provided with accommodation and financial support under section 19(1) of the Care Act 2014. Such support may be delivered by either adult social care or children’s social care, depending on whether the pregnant person has other children, or if there are known or suspected safeguarding concerns for the unborn child which may require a pre-birth assessment. The decision about which service will provide support should be discussed between adult and children’s social work services.
Victims or survivors of domestic abuse
People who separate from partners due to domestic abuse will need to obtain legal advice to discuss their options; particularly if they have or have had leave as a dependent, for example through a spouse visa. There is a Migrant Victim of Domestic Abuse Concession which gives victims/ survivors a period of time with leave to remain to make a new immigration application or to leave the UK; a qualified legal advisor can give a view on whether an individual should apply for the concession.
How can practitioners help families with no recourse to public funds
As noted above, Leeds has a statutory duty to assess children who may be in need. Therefore, if you are working with a child or family who have no recourse to public funds and the children may be in need as a result, you can refer them to the Duty and Advice team for allocation to a social worker to carry out a Child and Family Assessment.
Once an assessment is underway, social work teams can take a family’s information to the no recourse to public funds panel. The panel meets monthly and is multi-disciplinary, with colleagues from Leeds City Council Legal Services, Housing Options and both the Benefits and Migration teams, and is chaired by a social work service delivery manager.
Information about each family is presented to the panel, who will discuss and determine the type and level of support the local authority needs to provide under section 17 of the Children Act, in order to meet the children’s assessed needs. The panel can agree funding for both financial and accommodation support; as families with no recourse cannot access local authority housing assistance, this support needs to be provided under section 17. Emergency financial and housing support can be agreed by social work Heads of Service on an interim basis outside of the panel arrangements, with the expectation that the family are discussed at the next available panel, where alternative support arrangements may be recommended.
Key contacts and more information
If you are unsure whether someone you are working with has recourse to public funds, you can email chs.nrtpf@leeds.gov.uk to request a Right to Public Funds Check. You will need to provide as much information as possible, including the person’s full name, date of birth, nationality, the type of identity document they have and its reference number (e.g. passport number, European National Identity Card number). This is not a same-day service.
For further information about no recourse to public funds, please visit the NRPF Network website, where there are a range of useful resources available for practitioners.
For families in need of legal advice, the Immigration Advice Authority offer an Advisor Finder service, where you can search for registered advisors by postcode.
Leeds has practice guidance available for social workers on working with NRPF families, which includes more detail about securing support for people with no recourse, and ways in which a persons’ no recourse status may come to an end.
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