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Social Services’ Support – REFERRALS
Social workers are required to assess the needs of migrant children and adults in the same way that they would for any other child or adult requiring assistance. However, the local authority will additionally need to take steps to establish a person’s immigration status in order to decide what form of support can be provided, and to help inform any other actions that may need to be taken.
This chapter sets out the key information that the local authority will need to acquire as early as possible on receipt of a referral for support.
Later chapters set out the circumstances in which a person might be excluded from support and specific considerations to take account of when working with children, adults with disabilities and other vulnerable groups.
Key points
- To ensure that practice is not discriminatory, local authorities will need to put in place processes to ensure that a consistent approach is taken when assessing eligibility and providing social services’ support to a family or person with no recourse to public funds (NRPF).
- When a person or family with NRPF is at risk of homelessness, it may be necessary to provide interim accommodation and financial support whilst a community care or GIRFEC assessment is being carried out.
- Social workers will need to have information available to help signpost people to other specialist support, such as obtaining
immigration of benefits advice from a person / organization qualified to provide this. - Social Services’ support is not a ‘public fund’ for immigration purposes and people with NRPF have a right to be assessed for
social service services’ assistance in the same way as any other resident.
6.1 Initial information
Local authorities will need to obtain initial information about any person who requests support from social services in order to understand their immigration status and establish their eligibility for assistance. To ensure practice is not discriminatory, these questions would need to be asked of everybody requesting a service, and it is a good idea to include them on referral forms or telephone screening scripts. The table below sets out what information is required and why the local authority will need to obtain this.
A local authority may still be required to undertake social care assessments or intervene to provide temporary support to prevent homelessness and destitution, even when some of this information is not immediately available.
| INFORMATION REQUIRED | REASON |
| Language(s) spoken | To find out whether an interpreter is required |
| Current address and recent address history | To determine which local authority will be responsible for assessing and meeting need. For more information, see: |
Nationality, immigration status (if known) and what identity or immigration documents they have Nationality and immigration status (if known) of any dependants in the household | The person or parent’s nationality and immigration status will determine whether they are:
For more information, see: |
| Urgency of the potential homelessness/ destitution situation that the person or family are facing and whether they have any documentary evidence to confirm this | To establish whether emergency support needs to be provided whilst assessments are being carried out. For more information, see: |
6.2 Meeting Urgent Need – FAMILIES
Local authorities will need to explore the family’s financial and housing circumstances to establish whether the family will be eligible for support under 22 of the Children (Scotland) Act 1995.
Under section 22, the local authority has the power to provide emergency housing and/or financial support to a family when a child’s welfare is at risk whilst assessments or enquiries are being carried out. The statutory guidance followed by local authorities in England states:
‘Whatever the timescale for assessment, where particular needs are identified at any stage of the assessment, social workers should not wait until the assessment reaches a conclusion before commissioning services to support the child and their family. In some cases the needs of the child will mean that a quick assessment will be required.’ 46
Additionally, refusing to provide support to a family who would otherwise be homeless and destitute would be a breach of Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) (the right to be free from torture, inhuman and degrading treatment) or Article 8 (the right of respect for private and family life). To leave a family without accommodation or any financial support, when there is no alternative support available whilst assessments are being undertaken is likely to be unlawful.
For more information, see:
46 Department for Education, Working together to safeguard children (July 2018), paragraph 76.
6.3 Meeting Urgent Need – ADULTS
Section 12A(5) of the Social Work (Scotland) Act 1968 allows for the local authority to provide community care services where such services are required as a matter of urgency. Although this is a discretionary power, where a person with NRPF would otherwise be homeless and destitute were they not provided with interim support by the local authority, then this could again give rise to a breach of Articles 3 or 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). The local authority may therefore need to consider providing accommodation whilst its assessments are carried out, if there appears to be no other housing options available to the person. 47
For more information, see:
47 Secretary of State for the Home Department v Limbuela & Ors [2004] EWCA Civ 540.
6.4 Establishing Immigration Status
The local authority will need to establish the person or parent’s immigration status at an early stage in the referral process to find out what support options they may have and also whether the Schedule 3 exclusion to social services’ support applies.
It may be possible to obtain information from the person or parent to confirm their immigration status, for example, if they have a Biometric Residence Permit (BRP) or another Home Office document.
EEA nationals and their family members who hold settled status or pre-settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme, can provide evidence of their status using the View and Prove Your Status online portal.
There will be instances when a person who has been issued with a document may not be able to provide their original documentation, for example, where they have submitted their passport and/or BRP to the Home Office with a pending application, or where the Home Office has retained documentation following a refusal of an application, or if they do not have evidence of their status. In such cases, the person’s legal representative may be able to provide confirmation or the local authority may seek to confirm the person’s status with the Home Office.
As there are limitations on what information can be shared with the Home Office, the local authority must consider carefully how this is done to ensure the rights of people requesting support are upheld in accordance with the Data Protection Act 2018 and UK General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
Methods of immigration status checking through the Home Office include:
- Home Office Status, Verification, Enquires and Checking services (chargeable services need to be arranged directly with the Home Office)
- Free email status checking service: ICESSVECWorkflow@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk – the local authority will be required to explain the statutory basis for requesting information
- Telephone checking service (chargeable)
- On-Site Immigration Official (chargeable)
- The NRPF Connect database – for local authorities to receive immigration status information from the Home Office, including updates on pending claims. Local authorities using the database will pay an annual fee and sign an access agreement that sets out the lawful basis for data sharing, with the system being designed to enable the local authority to share the minimum information necessary for the statutory purpose of administering NRPF support. The database is project managed by the NRPF Network and hosted by Islington Council, with its operation governed by a working group consisting of local authorities and the Home Office. 48
Local authorities should also be aware that using ad-hoc and insecure methods of data exchange with individuals at the Home Office may not be compliant with the Data Protection Act 2018 and related legislation.
For more information, see: