Challenging the No Recourse to Public Funds condition through strategic legal action.
Funding snapshot
Programme area: Ending migrant destitution
Amount: £105,000
Length of grant: 2024-2026
The challenge
No Recourse to Public Fund (NRPF) is a policy which means that many people with temporary visas are unable to access state-funded welfare. It’s estimated around 2.6 million people are affected by NRPF – and without access to welfare, many of these people are pushed into deprivation.
The project
The Unity Project provides casework and advice to those impacted by NRPF. It uses this work to influence policy and highlight the injustices of NRPF. Complex cases can often have wider implications, securing changes to benefit more people.
We fund two caseworker positions, including a high level caseworker. Our funding helps to free up this caseworker’s capacity to focus on identifying strategic policy work arising from individual cases or trends.
Through this approach, the Unity Project has used litigation and strategic legal action to secure policy changes. For example, an October 2023 judgement opened up the opportunity for people with a wider range of immigration statuses to make ‘Change of Conditions’ applications, ultimately to overturn their NRPF condition.
The Unity Project was especially commended in this judgement for the assistance it provided to the claimant and the evidence it presented. It's now working with other legal experts to explore follow-up cases to build on this judgement, and offering advice to those who may fall into the new criteria.
