The High Court of England and Wales has ruled that the Home Office policy which denies migrants access to welfare payments is unlawful.
Under the Home Office’s ‘no recourse to public funds’ policy (NRPF), migrant families are unable to access crucial welfare supports such as child and housing benefit. Since the policy was introduced in 2012 as part of the government’s ‘hostile environment’ measures, a NRPF condition has been imposed on all migrants granted limited leave to remain on the basis of strong family ties to the country. The policy stipulated that the condition could only be lifted in exceptional circumstances, such as where individuals are destitute. This resulted in a person having to become destitute before being given access to Government supports.
The applicant in this case, an 8-year-old boy, argued that the policy increased the risk of families like his becoming destitute and heightened public health risks by forcing people into overcrowded accommodation or on to the streets. The boy and his mother suffered extreme poverty and hardship due to the policy as his mother’s income as a carer was not enough to adequately provide for both of them. He was forced to move school five times and had lived on the street with his mother.
As a result, the High Court ruled that the NRPF policy breached Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights which prohibits inhuman and degrading treatment. It found that the NRPF policy did not adequately reflect the State’s obligation not to impose, or to lift, NRPF conditions in cases where the applicant is not yet, but will imminently suffer inhuman or degrading treatment, in particular destitution.
Lord Justice Bean and Mr Justice Chamberlain commented that the immigration rules in question and current guidance to Home Office caseworkers did not adequately take into account these human rights obligations. The guidance was found to mislead caseworkers, indicating that NRPF conditions could only be lifted where an applicant was already destitute. The Court therefore granted a mandatory order for the Home Office to publish new guidance to caseworkers, and to pay the applicant’s costs.
Click here for the decision.