An eight-year-old British boy is taking the Home Office to the high court over its policy of denying families like his access to the welfare safety net. The boy, who cannot be named, is arguing that the Home Office’s no recourse to public funds (NRPF) policy is unlawful and that during the Covid-19 pandemic the policy increases the risk of families becoming destitute as well as heightening public health risks as people are forced into overcrowded accommodation or onto the streets. The NRPF policy was introduced in 2012 as part of the government’s so-called “hostile environment”. It affects different groups of migrants, some of whom have leave to remain and some who do not. The policy can prevent both groups from accessing benefits and other forms of social support.
The boy’s mother arrived in the UK in 2009 and was granted leave to remain. She works as a low-paid carer for mentally disabled people and, as a single parent, struggles to support herself and her son. The boy, who was born in the UK, has been forced to move schools five times due to the precarity of his mother’s situation. Caz Hattam, the coordinator of the Unity Project, said: “The pandemic has made the situation for families like this one more urgent and desperate. The destitution of these families directly impacts on their ability to take public health precautions, increasing their exposure to the virus and their potential to spread it.” The legal challenge comes on the same day the Children’s Society released a report highlighting the plight of these families and calling for a suspension of NRPF conditions during the pandemic. The report points out that many parents in this situation are on zero-hours contracts and some have lost their jobs as a result of the pandemic but cannot access benefits such as universal credit or child benefit. Haringey Migrant Support Centre has also compiled a report documenting concerns about the failures to protect migrant rough sleepers with no recourse to public funds during the pandemic. The report warns: “Failure to protect the most vulnerable is a failure to protect us all.” It states that too many migrants are still sleeping rough despite a government promise to “bring everyone in”, and that London boroughs have adopted an inconsistent approach to this call from government, which is not underpinned by statutory instrument. A government spokesperson said: “It is only right that those seeking to establish their family life in the UK do so on a basis that prevents burden on the taxpayer. People granted leave under the family and human rights routes can apply to have conditions lifted so they can access public funds, and in this particular case conditions have been lifted since 2019.”