Support to Families with No Recourse to Public Funds (NRPF) - Find a freedom of information request

We write to request the following information under the FOIA in relation to assessments of, and the provision of support to, families with No Recourse to Public Funds (“NRPF”) seeking access to support under section 17 of the Children Act 1989. If you require any further clarification as to our request, kindly inform us promptly and we would be happy to assist.

Contact details

1. Does your local authority have a separate team dealing with requests for support under section 17 Children Act 1989, for example an ‘NRPF team’

2. If yes, please provide contact details for this team (telephone and email)

3. If no, please confirm where referrals for such support should be directed to and the contact details (telephone and email)

4. Please also provide contact details for the relevant legal team supporting children’s services or dedicated NRPF team

Policies

5. Do you have any guidance or policy documents or other such written material in respect of undertaking assessments and providing support pursuant to section 17 of the Children Act 1989 to families with no recourse to public funds (including documents specific to this issue, or of more general application but covering this issue)?

6. If yes, please provide us with a copy.

Subsistence

7. Do you pay a set rate of financial subsistence to families with no recourse to public funds?

8. If yes, what is paid?

9. How has that figure been reached? E.g. is it by reference to Child Benefit rates, asylum support

10. (section 4 or section 95 rates)?

11. When was this level set?

12. Who took this decision?

13. Please provide copies of any reports, minutes, decision documents detailing the setting of this  rate.

14. If you do not pay a set rate of financial subsistence to families with no recourse to public funds,

15. do you have any guidelines relating to rates of financial support?

16.  If yes, please provide a copy.

Statistical information

18. How many referrals for section 17 support for families with NRPF were received in 2018? Please take 'referrals' to include both self-presentations and referrals from other agencies or organisations. 

19. How many assessments were undertaken by the NRPF team in 2018?

20. In how many of these cases was accommodation and/or subsistence support given?

Contact details

1. No

2. N/A

3. 01522782111 Referrals are all via t/c

4. Legalchildcareduty@lincolnshire.gov.uk  01522 552573

Policies

5. Yes

6. Please see the following link

https://lincolnshirechildcare.proceduresonline.com/p_no_recourse_public.html

Subsistence

7. No

Q8 – Q15 n/a

16. Yes

17. Please see the following link

https://lincolnshirechildcare.proceduresonline.com/p_no_recourse_public.html

Statistical Information.

18. There were a total of 6,864 new child social care requests in 2018.  To respond to this request it would be necessary to look in detail at each of the 6,864 new social care requests in order to determine whether any of these clients had "No recourse to public funds".  We are therefore satisfied that Section 12 is engaged.

Section 12(1) of the Freedom of Information 2000 does not oblige a public authority to comply with a request for information if the authority estimates that the cost of complying with the request would exceed the appropriate limit. The appropriate limit is currently £450 or 18 hours at a cost of £25 per hour.

The exemption under section 12 is not subject to the public interest test

Any refined request will be treated as a new request under the Freedom of Information Act.

19. Please see above

20. Whilst the Council's finance system identities spend from the Section 17 budget, this spend is not categorised down further so it is not possible to identify NRPF spending through the finance system, be it funding for accommodation or subsistence support.  Therefore to respond to this request would require examination of all open social care records to identify any spend on NRPF.