Adult Social Care Glossary, v 0.6

'No recourse to public funds' is a term used for people who are not entitled to welfare benefits, home office asylum support, public housing and other public funds and services. The term derives from the 'no recourse to public funds' condition applied to certain immigration statuses. 'Public funds' refers to a range of benefits including housing support, carer's allowance, child benefit, disability living allowance, housing benefit, income support and social fund payments.

The benefits and services listed in s115 [of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999] and rule 6 [of the Immigration Rules], which a person with NRPF cannot access are listed below (which are subject to change). As of December 2020, these are:

• ATTENDANCE ALLOWANCE
• CARER'S ALLOWANCE
• CHILD BENEFIT
• CHILD TAX CREDIT
• COUNCIL TAX BENEFIT
• COUNCIL TAX REDUCTION (sometimes called Council Tax Support) - council tax discounts, however, such as sole occupancy discounts, are not considered public funds for the purposes of the Immigration Rules
• DISCRETIONARY WELFARE PAYMENT - a discretionary support payment made by a local authority under section 1 of the Localism Act 2011, any regulations made under article 135 of the Welfare Reform (Northern Ireland) Order 2015 or from a welfare fund under the Welfare Funds (Scotland) Act 2015
• DISABILITY LIVING ALLOWANCE
• DOMESTIC RATE RELIEF (Northern Ireland)
• HOUSING BENEFIT
• INCOME-BASED EMPLOYMENT AND SUPPORT ALLOWANCE (not contribution-based employment and support allowance, which may also be known as 'new style' employment and support allowance)
• INCOME-BASED JOBSEEKER'S ALLOWANCE (not contribution-based jobseeker's allowance, which may also be known as 'new style' jobseeker's allowance)
• INCOME SUPPORT
• PERSONAL INDEPENDENCE PAYMENT
• SEVERE DISABLEMENT ALLOWANCE
• SOCIAL FUND PAYMENT - these are a range of payments generally available only to people already in receipt of other benefits. Some funds are administered by local authorities as local welfare assistance, the Scottish Welfare Fund or the Discretionary Support Scheme in Northern Ireland
• STATE PENSION CREDIT
• UNIVERSAL CREDIT
• WORKING TAX CREDIT

Other restrictions in respect of access to social housing, homelessness assistance and social care are set out in s117 to s122 of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999, Schedule 3 of the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002 and in legislation relating to the provision of these services.