MPs call for cut in safety net waiting time to support children living in poverty

The wait to access the social security safety net for parents settling legally in the UK should be halved to five years to help the many children who currently grow up in deprivation with no government support, MPs say today.

The report from the work and pensions committee highlights the tough circumstances faced by children from some families living and working legally in the UK who have fallen on hard times, particularly during the pandemic, and who have no recourse to public funds (NRPF) because of their immigration status.

Throughout its inquiry and by speaking to parents, the committee heard how many such children – some British citizens – experience food poverty, homelessness or live in overcrowded housing as a result of their parents being unable to access support.

The committee is calling on the government to cut the time families with children applying for indefinite leave to remain are subject to NRPF from ten to five years and recommends that parents receive Child Benefit where their children are British citizens.

Following feedback from the committee, the government announced last month that it would permanently extend free school meal eligibility to children from all families with NRPF. The report urges ministers to extend the two-year free childcare entitlement to such families.

Commitee chair Stephen Timms MP, said: “We have been moved by harrowing tales of parents and children being forced onto the streets and facing struggles to afford food and necessities, shut off from the help open to others who, like them, live and work legally in the UK. The devastating impacts of having no recourse to public funds hit home even harder during the pandemic.

“The government has made some very welcome steps in the right direction by permanently extending free school meals entitlement and making the right noises on the offer of free childcare. Allowing more parents to work fits in with the government’s stated aim of helping people back into employment and it is in the interests of families and employers that ministers now move quickly.

“The government must halve to five years the maximum wait for access to public funds for parents on a route to settlement in the UK. Otherwise, many more young people living permanently in the UK will spend most of their childhood denied support which others take for granted, with all the negative impacts on development into adulthood that result.

“We do not know exactly how many children are impacted by NRPF, as the government’s data is inadequate. We do know however that local councils support thousands of families with NRPF each year. Ministers should reclassify discretionary welfare payments, such as the Household Support Fund, so local authorities can be confident in supporting needy families with NRPF.”