NRPF Network | Supporting households with no recourse to public funds: key elements and service models

1. Introduction

This guidance is intended to aid local authorities in their understanding of the different elements of providing accommodation and subsistence support to families and adults with care and support needs when social care duties are engaged, and the organisational structures through which those elements can be delivered.

In 2023-24, NRPF Connect data shows that UK local authorities provided accommodation and subsistence support, under social services legislation to 3,474 households with no recourse to public funds at an annual cost of £82 million, and year-on-year, costs continue to rise.

Responding to the needs of residents who have no recourse to public funds requires social care departments to undertake a unique set of tasks and services which they would not typically perform. This guidance describes what must be in place to discharge these responsibilities effectively, and the different approaches taken to achieve high quality service delivery.

In chapter 2 the guidance begins by outlining ten key areas of service delivery:

Oversight
Training and supervision
Referral routes
Assessment of need
Provision of accommodation and subsistence
Provision of social care beyond destitution relief
Pathways off support
Hospital discharge
Transition to mainstream support
Discretionary support and edge of care

In chapters 3 to 6 it then explores how those areas can be delivered through three different service models:

Dedicated NRPF social workers or a social work team (chapter 4)
Dedicated NRPF caseworkers or a casework team (chapter 5)
No dedicated NRPF function (chapter 6)

Chapter 3 also examines the challenges that local authorities have faced with each of those approaches. Chapter 7 highlights the specialised roles that other councils have found effective.

This guidance has been informed by our engagement with councils and other stakeholders across the UK and the results of a survey and interviews conducted by the NPRF Network with local authorities using NRPF Connect. We are grateful to all practitioners who have shared their operational and practical experiences through the survey, interviews, training sessions, regional network meetings, and other contacts with our services.

This guidance sits alongside the NRPF Network’s other practice guidance for local authorities, which provides in-depth direction for social work practitioners assessing and delivering support for people with no recourse to public funds. All practice guidance can be found on the NRPF Network website.

1.1 Social care duties and further guidance

This guidance is focused on the delivery of support to households with no recourse to public funds when social care duties are engaged.

The social care duties that enable councils to provide accommodation and financial support to families and adults with care needs are set out below.

Families:

Section 17 of the Children Act 1989 (England)
Sections 37 and 38 of the Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act 2014
Section 22 of the Children (Scotland) Act 1995
Article 18 of the Children (Northern Ireland) Order 1995

Adults with care needs:

Sections 18 and 19 of the Care Act 2014
Section 35 and 36 of the Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act 2014
Sections 12 and 13A of the Social Work (Scotland) Act 1968
Articles 7 and 15 of the Health and Personal Social Services (Northern Ireland) Order 1972

For further information about how these duties apply to adults and families with no recourse to public funds, please refer to the NRPF Network practice guidance:

Assessing and Supporting Children and Families with No Recourse to Public Funds (‘Families Practice Guidance’)
Assessing and Supporting Adults with No Recourse to Public Funds (‘Adults Practice Guidance’)

2. Key elements of service delivery

This chapter lists the key elements of social services support for families and adults with care and support needs who have no recourse to public funds. Local authorities should understand and regularly review how they deliver each of these elements and consider how their organisational structure facilitates that delivery.

2.1 Oversight

Strategic, operational, and financial oversight is crucial to ensuring that services remain at a high, consistent standard and align with organisational priorities.

2.1.1 Organisational oversight

The provision of accommodation and financial support to people with no recourse to public funds can be an exemplar of how local authorities can support residents in need. Therefore, it is important that the delivery of this social care support is considered at a strategic level across the whole local authority.

The responsibility for service monitoring and improvement amongst senior managers and directors should be clearly designated. It should be clear who is responsible for approving policies and agreements with key partners, aligning those policies with organisational priorities, and who is accountable for ensuring that policies are followed.

Managers can encourage strong engagement from senior management and politicians by following the councils existing processes for scrutiny and decision-making, for example when:

Making information available on services for residents with no recourse to public funds on the council website
Providing service updates and briefings at management meetings and for the benefit of elected officials
Aligning to wider priorities, such as ending homelessness, violence against women and girls, and supporting migrants and refugees
Agreeing important service changes according to their impact on residents, such as reviewing subsistence rates, and completing Equality Impact Assessments
Making the business case for change and investment to improve services and save money in the long-term

Asking directors and council leaders for direction is an effective way of sharing the decision-making responsibility and facilitating challenge. They can also help to build relationships with external organisations such as other councils and health providers, facilitate internal relationships, upskill other council teams, and advocate for investment in services.

2.1.2 Caseload oversight

Proper managerial oversight of service delivery should ensure needs assessments are undertaken correctly and that accommodation, subsistence, and other support is provided consistently and in line with best practice. Methods can include:

Using reports from NRPF Connect to allow managers to see council wide summaries of support provision, monitor caseloads and forecast financial spend
Service-wide case panels, in which all cases are presented to senior managers, often held monthly or quarterly
Designating a lead worker for overseeing cases where families or adults with no recourse to public funds are receiving accommodation or financial support.
Writing and implementing clear, transparent policies for supporting people with no recourse to public funds, such as a subsistence policy or referral pathway guide
Agreeing procedures for assessment and review processes, particularly when responsibilities are shared across service areas
Providing opportunities for supported households to feed back to managers and inform discussions around service improvement

In authorities with no dedicated NRPF workers, monitoring service standards is especially advisable for those elements of support that social workers do not usually provide, such as providing accommodation and subsistence. Equally, authorities with dedicated NRPF services that sit outside of social care must ensure that families or adults with no recourse to public funds continue to receive necessary social work interventions and relevant support from social workers.

2.1.3 Financial oversight and planning

In March 2024, the average annual cost per household to social services providing accommodation and financial support to families and adults with care and support needs was £21.7k and £24.5k respectively, on average those households had been supported for over 1.5 and 2.5 years.

Managers and senior managers responsible for financial oversight and planning must seek to mitigate the risks associated with the delivery of high-cost social care responses through budget setting, budget monitoring, and identifying investment in services which can reduce overall cost. The council should be aware of grant money received for refugees and asylum seekers and consider when services, such as legal services, can be commissioned to include people with no recourse to public funds supported by children’s or adult’s social care and alleviate pressures on service delivery.

Financial oversight can be facilitated by caseworkers recording expected expenditure for each of their cases on NRPF Connect, the summation of which can be viewed by managers. This expectation can then be cross referenced with transaction reports to ensure accurate forecasting of spend and investigation of significant discrepancies. A local authority may decide to establish a centralised budget for accommodation and subsistence provision if this helps to collate spend from across different teams and evidence spend.

A strong understanding of expenditure in terms of numbers of supported households accompanied by insight into caseload trends (such as reasons for support, duration of support, or reasons for leaving support) can help build a plan for cost-control and cost reduction. A local authority may identify opportunities to invest in improving services and controlling expenditure, such as taking a proactive approach to resolving cases or investing in staff training, with financial information informing decision making. For more information about resolving cases, see section 2.8.

2.2 Training and supervision

Overseeing, maintaining and improving staff skills and knowledge, both amongst those delivering care and the wider local authority, is essential to providing services which comply with statutory legislation and maximise the care available to residents in need.

2.2.1 Social workers and caseworkers

Councils should have a clear plan for upskilling and supervising staff who are undertaking needs assessments or meeting the needs of people with no recourse to public funds to ensure that the welfare of children and adults with care needs are suitably met. Because of the complexities that can be faced when working with people affected by immigration exclusions and common misunderstanding about entitlements and support options, a service-wide plan could include:

Regular clinical supervision of responsible social workers, with supervisors sufficiently trained to provide critical oversight to support NRPF casework
Regular supervision of non-social workers involved in delivery of care and support, including oversight of overall social care considerations
Reflective practice sessions, in which workers can discuss cases and best practice amongst peers
Individual multi-disciplinary team meetings, including all those involved in a person’s care
Ensuring staff know how to access the NRPF Network online resources and email enquiry service
Attendance at regional NRPF Network meetings to share practice, challenges, and updates
Periodic NRPF training regarding assessments, service delivery, statutory duties, and using NRPF Connect
Engagement in the existing council training offer such as safeguarding, conflict resolution, suicide prevention etc. as well as wider skills-based training

2.2.2 Council-wide awareness and understanding

Councils will need to consider how to create a mainstream, council-wide awareness of the impacts of the NRPF condition on residents and how to serve people who are at risk of homelessness or have insufficient income to meet their basic living needs. Senior managers and the relevant leads should have a plan for upskilling all relevant staff across the council, such as non-specialist social workers, early help, education, housing or front door teams. That plan could include:

Knowledge sharing opportunities such as lunch-and-learns, pop-up information stalls, workshops, or events. Often, highly knowledgeable council staff, such as dedicated NRPF workers, will be able to deliver basic training or facilitate knowledge sharing
A council-wide training strategy on removing barriers to accessing services, including making best use of interpreting services or working towards a supportive environment where people at risk of violence or exploitation feel confident to approach
A communications plan, to tie-together good news stories for the council, and to see how service improvements or developments can be best brought to the attention of staff
Training specialist workers in different teams on rights and entitlements for people affected by the NRPF condition, referral pathways into social care, and the use of NRPF Connect to monitor caseloads and obtain information from the Home Office

Councils should also consider the training needs of homelessness and benefits teams, and how those more in-depth training needs can be aligned with training for social workers.

A council wide awareness of the impact of the NRPF condition will help preventative action to be taken. For example, by frontline staff feeling more confident in referring to immigration advisers or signposting people to other support services in the local area.

2.3 Referral routes

Councils will need to ensure that families and adults with care and support needs who are experiencing destitution or at risk of destitution are identified as early as possible and referred for statutory assessment when appropriate. Early identification of need can allow councils to provide preventative assistance, potentially reducing the need for statutory interventions, and give social workers sufficient time to complete assessments and arrange emergency support when required.

Managers should identify the internal and external points at which need may present and ensure that referral routes for social care assessments are defined. Written procedures or processes will help set service expectations and define role responsibilities between teams. Outlining key evidence or information that people may need to provide, including about their financial circumstances or support history, may help to make the assessment process more efficient. Referral routes are strengthened by regular review and the opportunity for referrers, assessors, and staff delivering support to easily communicate and feedback on the referral process.

Referrers may include:

Central council contact centres
Reception centre staff at council buildings or hubs
Online referrals via the council website
Social services front door staff, such as those based in a Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub or Access Centre
Housing and homelessness services, including rough sleeper teams
Other parts of children’s services e.g. education and early help

People experiencing or at risk of destitution will often approach voluntary and community sector (VCS) organisations; strong relationships with those organisations, including knowledge sharing and regular communication is vital to the early identification of need in the community. Clear and transparent online information is also an important element of successful referral pathways.

In addition to a general referral route, which will typically come via a social services referral, some councils have developed specific referral routes for certain NHS partners or VCS organisations. Providing referral routes which allow trained staff, such as certain workers in a council’s general reception centre or call centre, to directly engage any dedicated NRPF social workers or caseworkers can reduce referral times and operational overheads.

2.4 Assessment of need

Assessing need under social care legislation is one of the foremost functions of an NRPF service. Assessors must ensure that statutory duties are correctly implemented so that homelessness and destitution is alleviated for children and adults with care and support needs who cannot rely on mainstream benefits and that the service can evidence why support must be provided when immigration-based restrictions to social services support apply. Needs assessments must be undertaken in line with the relevant legislation and statutory guidance. For more information on how to assess need under social care legislation, please see section 4.2 of the Adults Practice Guidance and chapter 6 of the Families Practice Guidance.

When a parent or adult has no lawful status in the UK, a human rights assessment will be required in addition to a needs assessment. This requires assessors to consider the family or adult’s ability to return to their country of origin. Individuals will need to be assisted to access immigration advice and the local authority will need to liaise with the Home Office about outstanding immigration claims over NRPF Connect. Councils will need to be clear on who has responsibility for undertaking and overseeing human rights assessments and consider the training needs of the assessing practitioners who carry them out. For more information please see section 3.4 of the Adults Practice Guidance and section 4.3 of the Families Practice Guidance.

All needs assessments must be compliant with the relevant statutory guidance and the lead practitioner for an assessment must hold appropriate social work skills and expertise. For more information about how to identify a lead practitioner, see section 6.1.1 of the Adults Practice Guidance and section 4.2.2 of the Adults Practice Guidance.

2.5 Provision of accommodation and subsistence

When social care duties are engaged, families and adults with care and support needs with no recourse to public funds can be provided with accommodation and financial support when they are homeless, at risk of homelessness, or have insufficient income to meet their basic needs. The provision of non-specialist housing and regular subsistence payments does not typically feature in other areas of social work practice, but a plan must be in place to deliver this important function when meeting needs of people affected by the NRPF condition.

2.5.1 Provision of accommodation

Appropriate accommodation is vitally important when meeting need and is the most expensive part of relieving destitution amongst supported households with no recourse to public funds, accounting for 78% of the cost of supporting families and 86% of the cost of supporting adults with care and support needs in 2023-24 .

Services will need to be able to secure accommodation to meet varying needs on an emergency basis and for a long duration, considering that families and adults with care and support needs in 2023/24 had been accommodated for an average of 1.5 and 2.5 years respectively. Housing requirements can include emergency accommodation, long term accommodation for individuals and families, and specialist accommodation such as refuges, supported accommodation and residential care.

Strategies for sourcing accommodation vary widely between local authorities. Councils have reported successes with the following strategies:

Collaborating with housing departments/district housing authorities to leverage existing housing expertise to help procure affordable private rented sector accommodation that meets housing standard
Building direct relationships with public and private housing providers.
Purchasing HMOs or single units to use as emergency accommodation.
Paying or topping up rent on someone’s private tenancy if they can no longer pay it themselves
Providing council owned or housing association housing on a non-secure tenancy to families supported when social care duties are engaged

For more information on the types of accommodation that can be provided, see section 5.2 of the Adults Practice Guidance and chapter 7 of the Families Practice Guidance.

Invariably, councils report significant benefits where a good working relationship can be established between social workers or caseworkers and housing departments or district councils. Otherwise, housing knowledge must be acquired by caseworkers, social workers, or dedicated NRPF teams, sometimes by employing a specialist NRPF housing officer. Whatever the adopted approach, councils must consider how housing can be found which is value for money, ensures the safety and well-being of occupants and avoids high-cost nightly rates which can be incurred when commissioning emergency accommodation on a short-term basis.

2.5.2 Subsistence

Deciding the level of subsistence (financial support) that an adult or family receive should be carefully and individually considered as part of a child in need (CIN) plan or care plan. Those decisions must be taken by officers with a full understanding of the individual’s needs and comply with any relevant case law. Councils will need to establish and regularly review a subsistence policy such that it aligns with their statutory duties, case law, and values.

Councils should also consider how to effectively deliver subsistence payments. The majority of councils find that the significant administrative workload associated with processing subsistence payments can be more efficiently handled by designated administrative staff, either employed as part of a dedicated NPRF team or as part of a wider administrative team.

For more information on delivering subsistence support, including setting a subsistence policy and administering subsistence payments please see section 5.3 of the Adults Practice Guidance and chapter 8 of the Families Practice Guidance.

2.6 Provision of social care beyond destitution relief

Social care providers must meet the needs of supported families and adults with care and support needs with no recourse to public funds in line with legislation and best practice.

When a family with no recourse to public funds has been assessed to only require accommodation and subsistence support, social workers must ensure that the assessment is regularly reviewed, arising additional needs are not missed, and the family receive support consistent with any other child in need case.

Where most families will be supported under a child in need plan, councils must be cognisant of the challenges presented by safeguarding cases, where a family may be supported by a child protection team. The family must still be provided with consistent, appropriate support for immigration related issues. Continuity of support can be particularly challenging when a family are transferred between child in need and child protection teams, especially in services with dedicated NRPF social workers who only deal with child in need cases.

Adults with care and support needs with no recourse to public funds will often be known to specialist social work teams, such as those related to mental health or certain disabilities. It must always be clear who is responsible for reviewing need and for providing accommodation, subsistence, and immigration related support.

When non-social work caseworkers carry out functions that are specific to delivering support to households with no recourse to public funds, such as liaising with the Home Office about immigration claims and sourcing temporary accommodation, it remains important for adult and children social care teams to fulfil their responsibility to review the care being provided. Regular case reviews will ensure that the financial support being delivered remains consistent with the overriding objective of promoting the well-being of adults with care and support needs or supporting the welfare and development of children.

2.7 Discretionary support and edge of care

When adults with no recourse to public funds are homeless or destitute but do not meet social care eligibility criteria, the local authority will need to identify alternative support options for the individual. Groups that can be supported by social care on a discretionary basis could include pregnant women and people with vulnerabilities relating to domestic abuse, modern slavery or trafficking, age, or a medical condition.

In England and Wales, when an adult is assessed as not having eligible care and support needs the local authority must consider whether discretionary powers to meet non-eligible care and support needs under section 19(1) of the Care Act or section 36 of the Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act are engaged. For more guidance about when a discretionary power may be engaged to provide support, please see section 4.4 of the Adults Practice Guidance.

Directors and senior managers should consider how the provision of discretionary support to vulnerable groups can align with the housing authority’s homelessness strategy. Council wide initiatives to support vulnerable people who are subject to immigration related restrictions often require complex planning and cooperation which can be led by specialist workers or refugee and migrant services. Councils could consider specific ‘NRPF roles’ in departments where need is most common, such as a specialist NRPF rough sleeper outreach worker or a member of a VAWG team with responsibility for clients with no recourse to public funds. For more information about specialist roles, see chapter 7.

In addition, councils should build strong signposting and referral routes with other council teams and voluntary organisations such that they can effectively signpost people not eligible for social care support but who, nevertheless, require financial and housing advice.

For more guidance on early intervention for families please see section 4.1 of the Families Practice Guidance.

For adults who are assessed as not having care and support needs and whose only needs are related to a lack of accommodation or other financial support, please refer to chapter 12 of the Adults Practice Guidance, which describes the other powers and duties that may be considered in England.

2.8 Pathways off support

Promoting independence and reducing the need for statutory accommodation and subsistence support is a fundamental part of care provision for people with no recourse to public funds and managers must ensure that the right organisational relationships are in place to help supported households resolve their immigration issues and gain access to mainstream benefits and other sources of income.

On average, the cost to social services of providing accommodation and subsistence to an adult or family with no recourse to public funds was £471 and £417 per week respectively . As discussed in section 2.1 of this guidance, local authorities must seek to understand their caseloads and identify the support required to find long-term solutions to destitution. Councils must then then build partnerships and invest in services to be able to offer support in complex areas, reduce time on support, and remain in control of their finances.

2.8.1 Immigration advice

Councils will need to assist people with no recourse to public funds who are at risk of destitution to access immigration advice as early as possible i.e. when they first access local authority services or when a needs assessment is being completed. Good quality immigration advice can:

Promote the welfare of adults and children by enabling them and their families to make informed decisions about their future
Prevent someone from falling into destitution if there is an immediate solution available to them that is in their best interests, such as applying to the Home Office for a change of conditions whereby the NRPF condition is removed, or upgrading from pre-settled to settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme
Assist people to find a long-term route out of destitution and into mainstream support where an application for leave to remain with recourse to public funds can be made to the Home Office

Gaining access to benefits via a grant of leave to remain is the most common way that adults and families with no recourse to public funds leave social services support . Reducing the amount of time that a household is supported with accommodation and subsistence will both promote the welfare of supported children and adults with care needs and reduce the social services spend for the local authority.

Sourcing immigration advice

It is well known that immigration advice has become increasingly oversubscribed in the UK, as evidenced in a report commissioned by Refugee Action. Legal aid for immigration and asylum claims is only available in Scotland and Northern Ireland, and some areas of the UK have significantly less immigration advice provision than others. Councils should assess the availability of immigration advice in their area and build signposting routes to ensure that residents are able to access the right advice. Where the capacity to provide that advice does not exist councils should consider how they might be able to procure advice themselves.

Councils invariably report that the cost of providing immigration advice is outweighed by savings found through reducing the amount of time spent paying for accommodation and subsistence.

How a council chooses to source immigration advice, and whether they decide to procure it themselves, will depend on regional availability, existing relationships, and the size of their caseload. Councils should ensure that advice is provided by reputable, regulated advisors and consider:

Availability and capacity of local legal charities and law centres for referrals
Predictability of their caseload, whether a core need for legal advice is likely to remain and can be commissioned in the long term
Need for initial immigration advice at short notice
Need for lower-level OISC regulated advice, such as assistance with making certain applications
Need for longer term representation
Cost of different types of immigration advice
Whether the cost can be spread across services, such as resettlement pathways by procuring legal services together.

Ways to commission immigration advice

The most popular ways to provide legal advice are as follows, many local authorities will choose a mixture:

Procuring legal services from local legal providers or VCS organisations specifically for supported households with no recourse to public funds
Procuring legal services from local legal providers or VCS organisations for general use by migrant services or wider council teams
Referrals to local legal charities and organisations providing pro bono advice
Case-by-case funding

For more information on providing legal support please see section 9.2 of the Families Practice Guidance and section 13.1 of the Adults Practice Guidance. A detailed analysis of different funding methods is set out in the Justice Together report, ‘It’s a No-brainer’: Local Authority Funding for Immigration Legal Advice in the UK.

Providing in-house legal advice

A small number of councils have found reported successes in obtaining OISC registration and training internal staff to provide immigration advice to OISC level 1 or 2. Internal staff may be able to provide immigration advice more quickly, even at the initial point of contact, and OISC qualified caseworkers and social workers can provide more holistic advice to the people they support. Qualified staff will also be able to assist people in making certain immigration applications, avoiding the delays and inconsistency associated with finding external support.

Councils will have to consider the code of standards that OISC regulated organisations must abide by concerning case management, record keeping and client care. They should also consider the independence of their advice and where conflicts of interest may arise, such as where faster immigration outcomes may save money for the council but not align with the best interests of the client.

Managers who are considering introducing in-house immigration advice should speak to their local authority’s legal team to understand the risks associated with such provision. More information about OISC registration is available on gov.uk.

2.8.2 NRPF Connect

NRPF Connect is a national database and case management tool managed by the NRPF Network, used by 89 councils across the UK. It allows councils to record details of support provided to households with no recourse to public funds and quickly view a person’s digital immigration status to find out whether a person can access benefits and homelessness assistance, or whether the provision of social care support must be considered.
NRPF Connect users also have the dedicated support of the NRPF Team in the Home Office and the NRPF Network to overcome complex casework issues and expedite decision-making. Given the undertaking of the Home Office to fulfil this work for local government, it is highly advisable for councils to keep information up to date to facilitate this expedited decision-making.

NRPF Connect will:

Reduce the amount of time spent on statutory support as complex immigration cases are prioritised
Aid with assessments as a person’s access to public funds can be quickly identified
Allow councils to easily view the support they are providing to households with no recourse to public funds across adults and children’s social care
Contribute to the regional and national understanding of the prevalence of accommodation and subsistence support provided by adults and children’s social care to households with no recourse to public funds
Inform policy recommendations made to central government by the NRPF Network and other organisations

To see if your council has subscribed to NRPF Connect or for more information on how to access NRPF Connect and maximise its use please see please visit the NRPF Connect section of the NRPF Network website.

2.8.3 Supporting people to access employment

Some adults and parents will have the right to work, such as those with leave to remain with NRPF or pre-settled status. When they are in a position to be able to work, helping them to find employment can create an income stream which promotes independence, reduces reliance on subsistence payments, and in the case of those with pre-settled status, can enable access to certain benefits. As well as direct employment support, practitioners should consider assisting people to gain wider skills to assist with employment by providing access to training or ESOL teaching.

Services supporting people with no recourse to public funds should forge relationships with council employment teams, local DWP Jobcentre Pluses, and employment related VCS organisations. They may also consider the cost benefits of providing grants to people who incur certain costs in trying to find work.

2.8.4 Accessing benefits advice

Whilst those who are subject to the NRPF condition will not be able to access most benefits, some who are in work will be able to access contribution-based benefits and those with pre-settled status can access benefits if they are exercising a qualifying right to reside. For more information about entitlements to benefits please see the NRPF Network website.

Fostering a good relationship with council benefits teams, Citizens Advice services or Jobcentre Plus colleagues is important so that advice can be sought quickly.

In addition, expert benefits advice can ensure that supported households make the right benefits claims and gain access to their full entitlement of mainstream benefits as soon as they are eligible, and so no longer require accommodation and subsistence support. This is crucial to lowering costs for a local authority.

2.9 Hospital discharge

In some authorities, particularly those which contain a large number of hospitals, a significant number of adults with care and support needs are likely to become known to a local authority at the point of discharge, if not before.

Managers should consider their relationship with local NHS providers such that patients can access appropriate advice, referrals are streamlined, social care assessments are completed in a timely manner, and post-discharge support can be planned. Early identification of potential need will help reduce pressures by enabling councils to complete assessments, identify immigration issues, and source suitable housing and care provision early on.

In England and Wales, local authorities will have to work with Integrated Care Boards (ICBs) and NHS mental health trusts to agree on responsibilities for providing accommodation and subsistence when a person is being discharged from detention and qualifies for aftercare under s117 Mental Health Act 1985. Local authorities adopt varying approaches to managing s117 aftercare responsibility. Most commonly, councils will organise housing and subsistence payments, and in some cases reclaim costs from the ICB. In some instances those roles are reversed, and in others, either one of councils or ICBs can manage the entire process and pay for the costs. The decision of how to handle this process should be made by agreement, in advance.

NHS providers will have discharge coordinators and some will have specific staff responsible for liaising with local authorities regarding patients who are homeless or who have no recourse to public funds. Councils should build relationships with hospital discharge coordinators, identify their point of contact in the local authority, and consider including them in training or knowledge sharing.

More guidance is available in the Adults Practice Guidance at chapter 9 (hospital discharge) and chapter 10 (mental health aftercare).

2.10 Transition to mainstream support

A local authority’s duty to provide accommodation and financial support will end when a supported household gains access to benefits and homelessness assistance. Following a grant of leave to remain, which is the most common pathway off support for supported households , gaining access to mainstream benefits and housing can take several weeks to achieve. As such, a clear and efficient process by which supported households can transition into mainstream support can reduce costs for local authorities and improve outcomes for supported people.

The process will require social services to build strong relationships with:

Homelessness services, either in the council, the relevant district councils, or other councils where a family or adult is placed out of area
Benefits advisers, either in council teams, Jobcentre Plus or elsewhere
Employment advisers

Councils have reported that providing housing for people with no recourse to public funds in partnership with council housing departments or district councils can save time and money if the accommodation provider is prepared to allow universal credit claimants to enter into a tenancy agreement. In such scenarios, the person may be able to remain in the same accommodation when the right to access universal credit is enabled. Where people awarded recourse to public funds cannot stay in the accommodation sourced under social care legislation, a presentation to homelessness services will be required for alternative housing options to be found.

Senior managers should consider the overall savings to the council, associated with reduced accommodation and subsistence costs, when a person who has been granted access to public funds is prioritised by mainstream housing services and benefits, and seek cross-department agreements accordingly. A target period to achieve transfer from full-cost social care accommodation and subsistence to mainstream benefits and housing may be applied, but social care financial support must continue until such time suitable alternative accommodation is found.

For more information how transfers to alternative accommodation should be handled when support is withdrawn, please see chapter 6 of the Adults Practice Guidance and chapter 10 of the Families Practice Guidance.

3. Service delivery models

The following four chapters set out the different service delivery models developed by local authorities and how they achieve the key elements identified in chapter 2.

3.1 Overview

In response to our survey and interviews, local authorities from across the UK told us how they deliver services in a way which best suits their needs. The structures they described can be most easily understood as having one of the following:

Dedicated NRPF social workers or a social work team
Dedicated NRPF caseworkers or a casework team
No dedicated workers

These models of service delivery are described at chapter 4 (dedicated NRPF social workers), chapter 5 (dedicated NRPF caseworkers) and chapter 6 (no dedicated workers). Any challenges that local authorities have found them to present are highlighted in these chapters.

A common structure is to have a dedicated NRPF social worker or social work team. Dedicated social work teams will sit in either adult or children’s social care, carrying out assessments and implementing care plans for the households with no recourse to public funds which they support.

Dedicated teams of caseworkers sit either inside or outside of social services and will deliver assessments and support services in partnership with social care teams. Dedicated teams can either handle cases from across social services, or solely handle either families or adults with care and support needs.

Councils without dedicated NRPF social workers or teams will hold cases for families with no recourse to public funds that are provided with accommodation and financial support within wider child in need caseloads. The same approach will be taken in adult social care, with individual care teams meeting specific care and support needs, including through the provision of accommodation and subsistence services when required. In this guidance we have referred to this as a ‘dispersed’ model. Councils with a dispersed approach put oversight, supervision and training structures in place to ensure a high-quality, consistent approach across multiple teams.

The suitability of a certain structure for each council depends on their particular circumstances, primarily the size of their caseload, the strengths of their current local and regional services for people with no recourse to public funds, and what expertise, skills, and teams exist in the rest of the organisation. Local authorities with larger caseloads very often choose to have dedicated NRPF workers or teams, be that social workers, caseworkers, or administrators. So long as the main elements of NRPF service provision are in place, as outlined in chapter 2, councils can decide how to best to arrange their response, with each approach offering its own set of risks and opportunities.

3.2 Dedicated workers and teams

Many councils have created dedicated roles or teams comprising principally of either social workers or caseworkers and almost always supported by administrative staff as described in chapter 7. These workers and teams deliver social services support to people with no recourse to public funds, reflecting the specific nature of the support requirements of families and adults subject to immigration restrictions. Dedicated workers and teams are particularly common amongst councils with a larger demand for those services.

Chapters 4 and 5 explore the differences between dedicated social workers or social work teams and non-social-work teams or caseworkers, with the later sometimes being based outside of the directorate responsible for the delivery of social care functions.

In general, councils reported the following benefits of having dedicated workers or teams, regardless of the department in which they are based:

Specialisation and development

Dedicated workers and teams can build their knowledge and experience in assessing the needs of households with no recourse to public funds and providing care, which is not typical to general social work practice, such as administering subsistence payments, sourcing temporary accommodation, and helping families to address immigration matters.
Staff overseeing NRPF cases can further specialise in particular areas, such as hospital discharge or supporting survivors of domestic abuse, further expanding a council’s ability to effectively support vulnerable residents.
When dedicated NRPF officers are placed within a local authority’s refugee and migrant service, expertise of immigration-related issues and how these intersect with other areas can be shared and developed.
Training requirements for some generic social work teams and supervisors will decrease as people with no recourse to public funds at risk of destitution will not form part of their caseloads and they do not require the knowledge and skills to provide that specialist support.
Centralised teams may have more autonomy to commission services, such as immigration advice provision, when this has been proven to benefit the performance of the service.

Improving council-wide practice

Dedicated NRPF officers or social workers will become a point of contact in the council and can build strong relationships with internal and external partners related to the provision of services to people with no recourse to public funds throughout the local authority.
NRPF officers can share knowledge and foster best practice in the rest of the organisation by providing basic training and facilitating knowledge sharing.

Oversight

Particularly when it sits in a wider refugee and migrant service, an NRPF team is a natural place to oversee and improve services for people with no recourse to public funds and can lead on immigration-related aspects of wider issues, such as trafficking or violence against women and girls.
Having dedicated teams or workers can make it easier to track spend and trends in caseloads, allowing managers to identify and implement service development strategies to reduce accommodation and subsistence costs in the long term, such as improving pathways off support and move-on processes.

However, councils must consider how they can address some potential challenges of having a dedicated team or individual that delivers accommodation and financial support to households with no recourse to public funds, such as:

Ensuring that broader social work considerations are not compromised by creating specialisms in delivering services for households with no recourse to public funds and that other needs are not missed.
Support for people with no recourse to public funds must continue to be one part of the council executing its social care duties through the statutory assessment and review process.
Having a dedicated team can lead to gatekeeping as pressure on services leads to more stringent criteria for support, as identified in the COMPAS research report, Understanding Migrant Destitution in the UK.
Retaining organisational knowledge and skills if a sole dedicated worker leaves the council.
A lack of basic understanding of the implications of the NRPF condition amongst other social work teams.

When operating dedicated services, it is necessary to ensure that there are written processes and procedures to define job roles, referral routes and service expectations and that these are agreed at director level. Written policies or procedures must be well communicated to staff and periodically reviewed, with escalation routes in place, should processes not be followed.

4. Model 1: Dedicated NRPF social workers

An individual or team of social workers responsible for case-managing families and/or adults with care and support needs who are being provided with accommodation and financial support because they have no recourse to public funds.

4.1 Overview

Dedicated social workers will usually sit in either adult social care or children’s social care, working on the cases relevant to their directorate or across both practice areas, with funding arrangements made accordingly between directorates.

In children’s social care, a dedicated NRPF social work team will usually hold all the child in need cases where the parent’s immigration status and lack of income and housing is the only safeguarding issue. They may then liaise with and support other social work teams who hold cases with safeguarding risks or additional child in need issues. Similarly, where adults with care and support needs require specialist care such as sensory or residential care, dedicated NRPF social workers may assist or jointly hold cases with social workers providing this care.

Some councils have reported creating combined social work teams responsible for people with no recourse to public funds, unaccompanied asylum seeking children, and foster placements. Some NRPF teams will not case-manage households with certain types of immigration status, such as pre-settled status, such people will instead be case-managed by generic social workers.

Dedicated social workers can build an expertise in supporting people with no recourse to public funds and households with precarious immigration statuses which, when combined with generic social work skills, can enable them to provide holistic care to each household. If properly integrated with other social workers, this can foster services which focus on social working principles and increase general aptitude for understanding immigration related considerations as dedicated NRPF workers both support and learn from the teams around them.

4.2 How key elements are delivered

Oversight

Oversight and supervision of services for people with no recourse to public funds will be the responsibility of the NRPF team manager, often with a separate budget for housing, subsistence and staffing. The manager’s line management should provide senior sponsorship.

Training and knowledge sharing

The worker or team will be regularly trained and keep up to date with changing legislation and practice related to the no recourse to public funds condition as well as maintaining social work expertise. The workers will often provide basic training and knowledge sharing to other parts of the council.

Referral routes

Usually, cases will be referred into social services through the normal routes and assigned to NPRF social workers once identified.
Some teams will create direct referral pathways from the front door team or other organisations to more quickly assign emergency cases and eliminate administrative overhead.

Assessment of need

NRPF social workers will be responsible for carrying out social care needs assessments.
There are some examples of non-social workers being hired to assist with establishing a supported household’s financial circumstances.
As all assessments are undertaken by the dedicated team, managers must consider how sudden increases in requirement for assessment will be addressed.
For families, a social worker will still need to identify how these financial circumstances impact on the child and what support is required to meet a child’s needs.
For adults, a financial assessment will be undertaken once an adult determined to be eligible for care and support but the NRPF social worker is also likely to have established their financial circumstances when assessing need.
Human rights assessments will be carried out by NRPF social workers..

Provision of destitution relief

In almost all cases NRPF teams will be supported by officers who handle the administration of subsistence payments.
More commonly than in non-social work NRPF teams, social work teams may also contain housing officers to source and administer housing placements.
Social care managers should consider how transition between social care teams will be managed, particularly regarding the provision of accommodation, subsistence, and and a continued focus on finding a long-term route out of destitution.

Provision of care and support beyond destitution relief

The dedicated NRPF social workers will provide additional support that has been outlined in the care plan, undertake regular visits and reviews of the care plan.
Where specific needs require specialist care, cases will usually be passed to other teams e.g. child protection cases and adults in residential care.

Pathways off support

Responsibility for promoting independence and assisting supported households to identify and achieve a long-term pathway out of destitution will sit with the assigned NRPF social worker, who will usually record their cases on NRPF Connect and signpost to immigration advice.
Relationships and protocols with other services should be agreed between team managers.
Some services with sufficient need will have an officer who assists with the administration of NRPF Connect and immigration resolutions.

Hospital discharge

Working protocols between local health providers and the council will be overseen by a team manager and often an NRPF social worker will become the named contact regarding section 117 aftercare and hospital discharge.
Given their expertise, dedicated NRPF teams will often find and deliver the housing and subsistence support for these cases whilst NHS colleagues provide any additional care.
Whether or not the team then recoup those costs from the NHS will be agreed between the two organisations.

Transition to mainstream support

The assigned NRPF social worker will be responsible for supporting their client into mainstream services.
Centralised teams or workers will be able to establish relationships with mainstream housing, benefits, and employment assistance services so that households eligible to exit social services support are prioritised and overall time on support is reduced.

Edge of care and discretionary support

Dedicated NRPF social work teams in England and Wales will usually lead where support under section 19(1) of the Care Act is being considered.
Whether or not the team is involved with wider council initiatives such as trafficking or domestic abuse will usually depend on whether or not they sit in a wider refugee and migrant service, or whether they are framed as a specialist social care team.
As the officers responsible for assessments, NRPF social workers will build referral routes and signposting information for people who fall outside of care eligibility.

4.3 Potential challenges

Councils with dedicated NRPF social workers or social work teams have reported the following challenges:

Professional development, caseload oversight, and cross-team collaboration must be put in place to ensure that NRPF social work teams do not become isolated, and the quality of social care is consistent across the department.
With small specialist teams, services can find it difficult to balance capacity when the requirement for support or assessments is abnormally high.
Continuity of care can be difficult where households are transferred between NRPF social work teams and other social work teams.
Where social work teams are part of a wider refugee and migrant service there may be instances where a non-social worker is managing social workers and arrangements must be made for clinical supervision.
It can be difficult to recruit qualified social workers with the knowledge of immigration-related support required for the role.
If a team handles both adult and family NRPF cases, managers must ensure that their team remains in close contact with both adult social care and children’s social care.

5. Model 2: Dedicated NRPF caseworkers

An individual or team of non-social-work caseworkers who specialise in the elements of support that are specific to immigration status related exclusions and hold a caseload of families and/or adults who have been assessed as eligible for social care support. Non social-work caseworkers will work in partnership with social workers across adult and children social care to deliver statutory assessments, reviews, and deliver care.

5.1 Overview

NRPF caseworkers or casework teams can sit in either adults or children’s social care or outside of social care, typically in housing or equalities directorates. They are often part of a wider refugee and migrant service (or persons from abroad service) alongside refugee resettlement and asylum services. They will usually work with both adults and families, including those with pre-settled status granted under the EU Settlement Scheme.

Caseworkers will only deal with the elements of support unique to people with no recourse to public funds such as accommodation, subsistence, and finding long-term routes out of destitution etc., as well as supporting social workers with assessments and provision of care and support.

Caseworkers are typically not qualified social workers and will hold cases jointly with a lead practitioner who holds the appropriate social work skills and expertise when assessing, meeting and reviewing care and support needs. This approach can embed a consistency of service provision where caseworkers ensure consistency of provision of accommodation and subsistence while social workers focus on their core social work skills and ensure a consistency of generic social work. A clear division of responsibilities between service areas is an important a feature of this model of service provision.

As caseworkers work jointly with social workers from across the council, this structure can more easily accommodate periods of increased demand for assessments and support, with all referrals being directed to existing social services teams for an initial response. Supported households will usually retain the same caseworker if they move between social work teams, such as from child in need to child protection, or to residential care.

Councils can also find it easier to recruit NRPF caseworkers with the required expertise if they do not also need to be trained social workers.

5.2 How key elements are delivered

Oversight

Responsibility for the oversight of services for people with no recourse to public funds will sit with the team manager, usually with a separate budget for accommodation, subsistence, and salaries.
Other social care considerations will be overseen by social care managers alongside their normal roles.

Training and knowledge sharing

Caseworkers will be regularly trained in matters relating to the NRPF condition and may be asked to train staff members from other council areas.
They will be an expert contact in the council for queries related to immigration-based exclusions and services for people with no recourse to public funds.
Caseworkers will need to attend social care training courses to upskill in this area and understand how their role fits within the execution of social care duties.
Support must be given to up-skill social workers in all teams so that they can respond to the initial referrals received for people who are also affected by the no recourse to public funds condition.

Referral routes

Initial referrals for support will either be made directly to the NRPF caseworkers or as a secondary referral, via social services.
Secondary referrals are more common as a social worker will be required for the assessment of need.
In some cases, any emergency support provision required will remain the responsibility of the social work team, with support later transferring to the NRPF team.

Assessment of need

Assessments will be carried out jointly with social workers and NRPF caseworkers.
The social worker will ensure the assessment is conducted in line with statutory guidance and the caseworker can assist with immigration aspects, investigating financial circumstances, and support options abroad.
For family cases, the child in need assessment will have to consider how immigration restrictions and financial circumstances impact on the child’s needs.
For adult cases, the social worker’s focus should be on determining care and support needs before jointly considering immigration restrictions and financial circumstances in determining what support is required to meet needs.
Social work teams may decide to identify social workers who might lead on assessments for NRPF households, perhaps because of experience gained or to promote building of expertise and to create a point of contact between the two services.
Human rights assessments will usually be carried out by NPRF caseworkers, as informed by the findings of the needs assessment.

Provision of destitution relief

The provision of destitution relief i.e. subsistence and accommodation, including services such as finding properties, paying council tax, giving out pre-payment cards, and grant programmes for certain groups will be done by NPRF caseworkers or administrative staff.
Sometimes NRPF teams will employ a specialist housing officer to procure and inspect housing. In emergencies, social work teams may organise for initial relief whilst a referral to the NRPF team is made.

Provision of care and support beyond destitution relief

Where social care services are required beyond destitution relief, they will be provided by the allocated social worker.
In cases where additional services are not required, typically with CIN cases where a lack of housing or funds is the only safeguarding risk to the family, social workers must still review their needs assessments and remain assured that needs are being met.
Changes in need may require cases to be reallocated to different social work teams, such as residential care for adults, or if child protection is engaged for a family.
NRPF caseworker allocation will remain the consistent regardless of which social care team or social worker may be involved in meeting the household’s needs at any given time.
For all households, including those which only require accommodation and subsistence support, social workers must ensure that care and support needs are being continuously assessed, and newly presenting needs are not missed.
Often councils will agree a formal Memorandum of Understanding or Service Level Agreement between social services departments and an NPRF casework team to clearly define roles and expectations.

Pathways off support

Responsibility for promoting independence and assisting supported households to identify and achieve a long-term pathway out of destitution will be handled by the NRPF caseworkers, overseeing internal and external referrals, including to immigration advice, use of NRPF Connect, and individualised casework.
Centralised teams will usually manage the agreements, paid or unpaid, with local legal providers with different levels of support for different cases.
NRPF officers will also typically be responsible for ensuring that a supported household has been properly advised on their benefit entitlements and provided with employment support where appropriate.

Hospital discharge

Working protocols between local health providers and the council will be overseen by a team manager and often an NRPF caseworker will become the named contact regarding section 117 aftercare and hospital discharge.
Given their expertise, non-social work NRPF caseworkers and teams will often find and deliver the housing and subsistence support for these cases whilst NHS colleagues provide any additional care.
Whether or not the team then recoup those costs from the NHS will be agreed between the two organisations.

Transition to mainstream support

Transition to mainstream support will be handled differently depending on whether the supported household have any outstanding requirements for social services support.
If there are no specialist social care requirements, NRPF caseworkers will make referrals to immigration, housing, and benefits services, ideally invoking pre-existing agreements to aid transfer off social care support.
Otherwise, the assigned social worker and caseworker will work together to manage the transition.

Edge of care and discretionary support

Dedicated NRPF teams and workers, particularly those which sit in wider refugee and migrant services, are often involved with council-wide initiatives to support migrant victims of trafficking and domestic abuse, including the delivery of discretionary support.
Dedicated officers will also build directories to signpost people who do not qualify for social services support, which they can share with other council teams.

5.3 Potential challenges

Surveyed councils who have a dedicated NRPF caseworker or team reported the following challenges:

A positive, clearly defined working relationship between the NRPF caseworkers and social care teams is essential to ensure that needs assessments and care services are delivered to the standard required.
Centralising knowledge and skills related to delivering social services support to people with no recourse to public funds can lead to a lack of knowledge amongst social workers who then rely on dedicated NRPF colleagues to fully understand their clients’ needs.
Councils must closely monitor the risk of failing to implement relevant statutory responsibilities under social care legislation when responsibility transfers to a non-social-work team or caseworker.
Managers must ensure that social workers are involved where oversight methods such as case review meetings are held amongst NRPF caseworkers and social work considerations are discussed.

6. Model 3: No dedicated NRPF workers

Social workers in generic social work teams will case manage families or adults with care and support needs with NRPF alongside their other cases. They will be responsible for meeting all of their care and support needs, including finding accommodation, paying subsistence, and finding long-term routes out of destitution.

6.1 Overview

Often, certain social workers or managers will be designated as a point of contact for assessing and supporting people with no recourse to public funds. Usually, a member of administrative support staff will be responsible for logging cases on NRPF Connect and administering subsistence payments.

Councils with dispersed services will commonly hold a regular case panel to provide oversight and guidance for social workers who hold cases with no recourse to public funds and to oversee services for that group as a whole.

This structure is common amongst councils with small numbers of supported households with no recourse to public funds. The distributed approach can more easily absorb periods of abnormally high demand for services or assessments as the increased demand is spread across all social work teams.

Social workers applying the same principles and skills to all cases will more naturally enable a consistency of generic social care. Councils will have to create policies and structures such as regular case panels and communities of practice to ensure a consistency of service provision for subsistence, accommodation, and other services unique to households with no recourse to public funds.

6.2 How key elements are delivered

Oversight

Oversight of individual cases is provided by team managers and some councils will hold regular NRPF casework panels to provide oversight and guidance to social workers whilst keeping track of costs and overall standards of care.
Where departments have a named lead for service for households with no recourse to public funds they will be responsible for developing the necessary policies and procedures.

Training and knowledge sharing

All social workers will need to have enough understanding of the NRPF condition and its implications to be able to assess and support a household who have no recourse to public funds.
Managers will also need to be confident that they can provide oversight on those cases.
Some councils will designate ‘NRPF Champions’ in each social work team who will receive extra training on assessments, providing support, and using NRPF Connect and be able to advise their colleagues.
A regular programme of training and knowledge sharing regarding supporting households with no recourse to public funds will be needed to maintain a consistent level of knowledge, skills, and service delivery across the council.

Referral Routes

Front door teams will identify families and adults with no recourse to public funds who are at risk of destitution and require a needs assessment.
Cases are allocated to assessors according to team and worker capacity, as with any other required assessment.
In the absence of dedicated workers or teams, it must be clear who is responsible for ensuring that referral pathways are properly designed and maintained, building relationships with VCS organisations, and keeping website information and external documents on referral pathways up-to-date.

Assessment of need

Assessments will be conducted in line with statutory guidance by social workers alongside their other assessments.
The social worker will ensure the assessment is conducted in line with statutory guidance and the may have to consider immigration-related aspects, financial circumstances, and support options abroad.
Social workers will carry out human rights assessments where necessary, referring to NRPF Network guidance and supported internally where they do not have experience of such assessments.

Provision of destitution relief

Social workers will manage housing and subsistence support as part of their care plan.
Often this requires a strong relationship with the housing department to help procure accommodation and administrative teams will create a generic system for providing subsistence payments.
Mangers must ensure that clearly defined policies and procedures can be followed to help address the unique aspects of care when working with households who have no recourse to public funds.
Clear standards help to ensure that support is provided consistently .

Provision of care and support beyond destitution relief

Assigned social workers will hold cases of households with no recourse to public funds and must ensure that needs continue to be met while accommodation and subsistence support is provided.
Cases may be transferred between teams, in which case responsibility for meeting needs and reviewing the case must be assigned to a social work in the receiving service.
Social care managers should consider how transition between social care teams will be managed, particularly regarding the provision of accommodation, subsistence, and a continued focus on finding a long-term route out of destitution.

Pathways off support

The assigned social worker will also be responsible for assisting supported households to identify and achieve long-term routes out of destitution.
The social worker must liaise with the key users of NRPF Connect to ensure cases are recorded, that immigration status is known, that referrals to immigration advice are made.
Social workers will liaise with other available services, such as employment or benefits support, and decide when additional support should be provided to help achieve a sustainable outcome, such as making a decision to fund immigration advice.
Responsibility for using NRPF Connect and keeping the system up-to-date needs to be clearly defined in the dispersed practice model.

Hospital discharge

Relationships with local NHS providers will be handled by managers as they are for other areas of social care and agreements around the provision of Section 117 aftercare and hospital discharge for people with no recourse to public funds will form part of wider relationships.
If the department has a manger responsible for overseeing services for households with no recourse to public funds, they will typically be responsible for negotiating protocols with partner organisations.

Transition to mainstream support

The assigned social worker will be responsible for supporting their client into mainstream services.
Where a staff member is responsible for overseeing services for households with no recourse to public funds they may write protocols for move-on support, provide guidance to social workers, and maintain relationships with mainstream housing, benefits, and employment assistance services.

Edge of care and discretionary support

Where people do not meet the thresholds for formal support, signposting information for households with no recourse to public funds should be available to all assessors and front door staff.
Complex eligibility decisions for edge of care support will need to be escalated through existing supervision and management structures, with relevant guidance and information informing decision-making.

6.3 Potential challenges

Surveyed councils who do not have dedicated NRPF workers reported the following challenges:

There is a high risk of varying practice between different social work teams if processes and standards for delivering services to households with no recourse to public funds are not clearly defined.
Doing the necessary training to ensure that all social workers and their managers can provide proper support and oversight can require a lot of staff time from staff who may seldom support people with no recourse to public funds but must be trained to do so.
As social workers are dealing with many types of need, it can be difficult to build and maintain knowledge of signposting and referral routes for people with no recourse to public funds. who do not qualify for social care support but can still benefit from other specialist support or voluntary sector assistance.
Child in need cases where only accommodation and subsistence is required can challenge service wide standards, such as visit frequency, when held alongside cases which require more support.
Measures must be taken to ensure continuity of care if households move between social work teams.
Social workers must be allowed sufficient capacity to address time consuming elements of meeting needs including arranging financial support, accommodation, and transition to mainstream support.

7. Specialised NRPF Roles

The councils surveyed to inform this guidance reported the benefits of introducing certain specialised roles, both where the volume of certain tasks related to supporting households with no recourse to public funds warrants a specialised role and where other services or areas of the council find that having a designated lead enables them to provide a better services to residents with no recourse to public funds and to support the council’s overarching aims of reducing inequalities in service delivery.

Most of these roles have already been referenced previous chapters.

4.1 Rough sleepers NRPF Lead

When people subject to the NRPF condition are unable to avoid destitution, many will become homeless or be forced into rough sleeping. Adults without eligible care and support needs will have no route to government support and council rough sleeper teams can find it particularly challenging to find routes to accommodation.

In addition to wider schemes to support certain vulnerable groups using discretionary support, some local authorities have begun to employ NRPF leads in their rough sleeping and homelessness teams. These leads will specialise in helping people who cannot access mainstream benefits to resolve their immigration issues, finding routes to mainstream support, and building relationships with voluntary organisations who can provide accommodation and support.

4.2 NRPF social work champion

Where local authorities use a dispersed model of service delivery and all social work teams may be required to support households with no recourse to public funds, NRPF Champions can be designated in each social work team. These champions will be trained to a higher level than other social workers, provide advice to others, and take part in service-wide knowledge sharing activities.

NRPF champions could also be used in teams outside of social work, such as benefits, employment, or housing services.

4.3 Political champion

Increasingly, local authorities will have an elected member with a remit for championing migrants, as seen in the growing Migrant Champions network. Services which meet the needs of people with no recourse to public funds are vital essential services for supporting the migrant community and migrant champions or members responsible for those services should be encouraged to engage with how services for people with no recourse to public funds are run.

Engaged elected members can help to forge stronger relationships with VCS and other partner organisations, improve internal awareness and co-operation with social services, and help to achieve the required buy-in for investment in services for people with no recourse to public funds.

4.4 Hospital-based NRPF discharge officer

In areas with a large volume of hospitals and other NHS in-patient facilities, the requirement for expertise in immigration-based exclusions and for joint working between the NHS and social services may be high enough to justify specialist hospital-based discharge officers or social workers with a specialism for working with people with no recourse to public funds. These workers will be responsible for liaising with the local authority and helping to identify discharge routes or aftercare placements for patients in their care.

4.5 NRPF administrator

Almost every service in the UK will be supported by administrative officers who administer care for people with no recourse to public funds, and all dedicated NRPF teams will have either a part-time or full-time dedicated officer. NRPF administrators will typically be responsible for administering substance payments (both regular and emergency), paying certain bills, updating and checking NRPF Connect, tracking budgets and more.
NRPF support is vital to every supported adult or family at risk of destitution and high quality, consistent administration of that support is the core of any good service.

4.6 NRPF housing team

If named contacts or NRPF champions in housing teams are not sufficient to meet housing need, councils may fund several housing officers within the housing department to form a bespoke team which specialise in housing for people with no recourse to public funds. This team can benefit from the housing contacts and knowledge within the directorate whilst specialising in finding, inspecting and maintaining housing for supported households.

Acknowlegements

This guidance has been written by Arthur Lewis at the NRPF Network with input from Catherine Houlcroft, Henry St Clair Miller, Stefan Robert and the NRPF, Refugee and Migrant service at Islington Council.

The guidance has been informed by the practice experiences and learning shared by local authorities across the UK, as shared in a survey and interviews, members of the NRPF Network’s Steering Group, local government associations, and other stakeholders. We are grateful to all of the practitioners who have completed the survey, participated in interviews. participated in the regional NRPF Network groups, attended our training sessions and events, contacted our enquiry service or have otherwise engaged with our services.