Councils will need to maintain an up-to-date knowledge of how different immigration statuses impact on people’s rights and entitlements to local authority services including housing and homelessness services and financial assistance, and the legislation that can be used to provide them, particularly to prevent destitution and rough sleeping.
The national guidance was first published in 2019 and was updated in 2023. It provides the following:
- General guidance about the issues a local authority officer would need to consider when working with migrant individuals and families in Scotland.
- Information for people working in all sectors, who need to establish a migrant individual or family’s support options and entitlement to services.
- Supplementary guidance that must be followed by social workers and other professionals, for example, when assessing a child’s needs.
- Examples of good practice and guidance with regards to responding to the needs of destitute migrant individuals and families with No Recourse to Public Funds (NRPF)
You can access the toolkit here.
COSLA have also published an online webinar on Migrants’ Rights and Entitlements for councils which covers topics from the guidance in an accessible format and includes case study examples – Migrants’ Rights and Entitlements Webinar