Social Services’ Support – NRPF Service Delivery

Local authorities need to ensure that effective approaches are in place to manage social service responses to destitution. This chapter sets out what a local authority would need to put in place to ensure that the provision of accommodation and financial support to families or adults with no recourse to public funds (NRPF) is targeted, cost-effective and safeguards the welfare of children and vulnerable adults.

14.1 Basic Principles

Local authorities deliver services in different ways in order to be able to best meet the needs of their residents. There will be a significant difference in levels of demand for assistance from people with NRPF across Scottish regions, which may change over time, and local authority staff will have different levels of experience of dealing with such cases. Therefore, each local authority will take a different approach to administering support to people with NRPF. Even where a local authority currently receives no or a low number of referrals for support, local, national or UK-wide changes could give rise to new demand for services.

We have seen this come to pass in the preceding few years, as more local authorities across the country have assisted EEA nationals to apply for the EU Settlement Scheme, and have welcomed Syrian, Afghan and Ukrainian refugees to settle in their areas. Whilst it is important to adopt an approach that work within each local authority, COSLA and Scottish Government continue to work – through implementation of the Ending Destitution Together strategy and the NRPF Scotland Network for local authorities coordinated by COSLA, to ensure consistency in approaches across local authorities and to promote examples of good practice.

Local authorities should also consider, in planning their support for migrant people and families, how they can coordinate delivery to meet their obligations under Getting It Right for Every Child (GIRFEC) and the Fairer Scotland Duty, by reducing inequalities through the provision of NRPF support and establishing sustainable outcomes for destitute migrants living within communities.¹²³

There are some basic principles that can be incorporated within a local authority’s approach, regardless of its size, demand for services and internal operating arrangements. Having worked with local authorities across the UK for over a decade, the NRPF Network recommends that a specialist and targeted response is required from the point that people with NRPF may approach the local authority, to the time that support ends, in order to ensure this essential safety net is administered robustly, lawfully, consistently and cost-effectively. This does not necessarily require a specialist team or workers, but staff will require clear procedures, practices and appropriate levels of specialist training. The allocation of resources may need to be balanced against the savings that will be gained, for example, where proactive action from the local authority will result in support ending earlier than it might have otherwise done.

Although there are statutory requirements with regards to who may undertake social care assessments, local authorities are free to decide how other elements of NRPF support provision are administered. Specialist NRPF workers who are not registered social workers may therefore have an advisory role and/or be responsible for some aspects of case management that includes some or all of the tasks below.

For a summary of the overall support process please see the ‘NRPF service provision – at a glance’ flow chart.

Internal processes need to be reviewed to ensure cases are managed effectively from start to end by the local authority:

• Identify the points by which a person or family with NRPF may approach the local authority – staff will need to be trained to understand what support options the person has, particularly where social services support may apply.
• Set up internal referral routes so that people approaching services, e.g. housing or welfare rights can be promptly referred to social services or the NRPF workers
• If there are specialist workers within or outside of social services’ teams, ensure there are protocols in place so that all cases are identified and referred to them consistently.
• Consider how NRPF support will accounted for within budgets, and whether this will be separate to the wider social care budget.
• Use council legal teams on an advisory basis for guidance on complex cases and human rights assessments
• Ensure there is a mechanism in place to monitor caseloads and expenditure.
• Ensure there is a mechanism in place for identifying when cases need to be reviewed.
• Provide effective management oversight to ensure that assessments (including human rights assessments) are approached consistently and correctly.
• Enable partnership working between council departments, e.g., legal teams, housing departments and fraud officers.
• Build external partnerships with voluntary sector organisations providing advocacy and support to migrants and families, to identify gaps in services, agree referral routes and ensure effective coordination and signposting
• Take proactive action to reduce a person or family’s need for social services’ support, for example, partnership working with immigration advisers and the Home Office to achieve a change in immigration status that confers recourse to public funds, for example, an application for a Change of Conditions to remove the NRPF condition.
• Consider how the local authority’s voluntary sector funding streams can be used to provide services for people with NRPF who are supported by social services or who are in the community and may be at risk of homelessness e.g. funding immigration advice provision.
• Where gaps are identified regarding the above, then the local authority may need to support one or two staff to develop the knowledge and skills to ensure these tasks are covered.

14.2 Examples of Service Models

The service models outlined below are followed by four local authorities in Scotland that may experience different levels of demand for support, with an evaluation of each model’s benefits. Please click on examples to see models.

Example 1: Local Area Social Work Teams Manage Cases   

Example 2: Specialised NRPF team (families)

Example 3: Centralised Advice and Case Panel Access

Example 4: Specialist OISC Registered Immigration Adviser with cases held by Social Work teams