What happens to a homeless person who has 'no recourse to public funds'

[CrypticClueless]

A man has been sleeping rough in streets close to my house for well over a week to my knowledge.

A local contact says they were previously living in a nearby HMO but have been kicked out

I have contacted StreetLink 3 times about this person - and someone with relevant connections (not StreetLink - a person within the council) says they made contact but that there is no hostel place available for a single man, and muttered something about 'its difficult . complex' and they may have 'no recourse to public funds' . i.e no visa that allows them to claim any welfare benefits and if they have no work / not enough credits, no contributory benefits.

If he is here without papers, he clearly has no funds to 'go home' .

What happens? Is there any help available? I don't know his status for certain and it isn't my business to know confidential information. But if there is help I would like to refer him for it.

It's warm and dry at present but that won't last....will he just die on the street?

NRPF isn't 'without papers'.

OK, What does it include please?

And does it mean there is no available help whatsoever ?

And whether NRPF applies to this man or not what happens if StreetLink cannot help? If anything.

It means their status in UK does not enable them to access social care, benefits or free medical care. It may even be that they are UK passport holders but have not been normally resident for long enough to qualify. There may be charities who could support them but if they have been evicted from housing it suggests they have already been in touch with one and breached the conditions or behaviour for the accommodation. Refusal to engage and homelessness is often due to alcohol or drug related issues.

@CrypticClueless okay so there's limited information here

I used to volunteer with homeless people and I met one guy who had been trafficked here and didn't even know he'd been in trafficked - that might sound a bit odd, but it's quite easy for it to happen

if he actually wants to go home, the Home Office can organise this for him via something called the voluntary return service. You can find all this information online but as far as I know, they won't come out and talk to him. He will have to find whatever the nearest office is and go to them.

This is what happened with the chap I knew and while I didn't follow it up (I wasn't in charge. I was just volunteering) I think that they put him in accommodation before he was returned to his country.

It's not clear whether or not he does have access to funds sometimes people have access to funds, but they don't know it - especially if they have entered the country in bizarre circumstances

I'm also thinking that he was in an HMO so somebody was paying his rent?

Also try the Refugee Council.

do bear in mind that a lot of people have been turfed out of accommodation for a drunk and problematic behaviour- that's why they don't have any.

Officially it means you can’t use/ claim any benefit, social housing, other services deemed “public funds”

once you’ve been here about 5 years it slips away.

tbh I’m not really sure how this differs from any street sleeper? If it was that easy to come off the streets no one would be there long term

Crisis or Shelter or a refugee charity? Is there a language barrier? Any MH issues? Physical health problems?

I think it depends when/why he came to the country and the reasons why he's not able to access public funds. And whether there's a place for him locally.

I hope he manages to get some support.

It likely means that he was perfectly legally granted access to enter, live and work in the country on the basis that he had a job with a sponsor and would support himself through that employment.

He's then lost that job for some reason - employer closing, being fired, not accepting substandard treatment or pay, didn't realise his 'sponsorship' was actually an abusive compelled employment breaching employment legislation/ something else - meaning he's in a situation where he can't pay for accommodation, isn't eligible for benefits, isn't eligible for medical care, isn't eligible for housing, isn't eligible for any help whatsoever other than immediate lifesaving medical treatment and may be subject to deportation if he hasn't been able to secure a new sponsor within 60 days and he was on a skilled worker visa.

He may have been eligible for contributions based JSA if he had paid enough NI in the period + he wasn't deemed to be intentionally unemployed + his employer had paid his NI, but that runs out and were any agency to attempt to assist, that may trigger his deportation because there's a punitive response to somebody applying for or receiving assistance even if they didn't realise they were technically applying for public funds. This also puts people off applying for JSA when they have paid sufficient contributions, as there's no guarantee a mistake won't be made and he's flagged for deportation even though he is entitled. Sometimes the Home Office will change visa conditions if there is an application, but it's a massive gamble. This is also why the person at the council said it's complicated, as their getting involved could mean he is incarcerated until deportation.

Basically, the only help available to him would be from a charity specialising in assisting people with NRPF.

They can get free medical care

I don't really have details of his circumstances.
He definitely drinks / has been known to drink - my neighbour helped him when he was collapsed drunk
No real language issue - he spoke briefly to my neighbour and me
And seemed to have told my neighbour that he had formerly had a room round the corner.
The NRPF issue came up because a council person muttered that it could be an issue.
He is not in an area where there are patrols / soup kitchens for street sleepers, as in Central London, for example.
Thanks all.
I will keep making referrals on StreetLink.

Any charities that accept government funding will not be able to help him if he's got NRPF. Usually what support there is comes from local churches. CAB should keep details of where to signpost but I know they're variable in quality.

You don't actually know if he has NRPF though,someone just said he might.

JCWI can help with immigration issues.

He has slept in front of a church the last few nights, and I know their warden- maybe they can help.

StreetLink haven’t helped in a week, even if he is not NRPF.

I'd like to know how someone in his situation came to be in this country in the first place.
Before everyone starts calling the racist card I'd really like to know what he thought would happen when cane here and why?

This has been comprehensively explained by @NeverDropYourMooncup below

As well as the explanation that someone has already given

The guy I met who had been trafficked but didn't know... it sounds a bit nuts but from his perspective... he was promised building work in England by whoever brought him here. They just wanted cheap or possibly slave labour for their building project. They paid for him to come here, gave him food, he was able to sleep in the building he was working in - that was the promised accommodation.

Then, when the job was finished, he was here with no papers. No legitimate reason to be here. No roof over his head. I presume whoever ever brought him here promised him the correct paperwork.

So he ended up at the church.

If you see me around the board, you will know that I do not defend illegal immigrants in any way. I'm just saying that that's one of the reasons why very confused people end up here.

That's also why I'm saying maybe contact the home office - it may well be best for him to go home. But I'm pretty sure he has to do this for himself ultimately so someone has to give him the information and he has to sort it out.

Thread doesn't say whether he's foreign or British. Sadly resources are limited and single men are at the bottom of the pile. We have homeless shelters here but apparently they're full almost as soon as they open the doors (queues waiting for the doors to open). Dying alone on the street may be his future. I think the local authority will cremate and dispose of the remains.

do you know if he himself has presented to the local authority? If he has been advised to do this and hasn’t then that does suggest some complexity.

A friend of mine has no recourse to public funds and is disabled. He came here from a country with no welfare system, so when their parents died he had to come here to join another family member who will take responsibility for his care*

because he has no recourse to public funds his housing with care and support costs thousands a month. Even charity events have to be paid for and can cost hundreds. He had to put up a few thousand ££ as a supplement for NHs care before coming.

if his relative was to die or lose their income, they would be an unsupported person who came here legally and now needs support from the state

once he’s been here about 5 years he qualifies for public funds

*fwiw these visas are quite rarely granted

Why would he have to contact the Home Office himself?
If he has no recourse to public funds, he's not a British citizen, and he's homeless and penniless, he should be deported.

Its not been established that hes NRPF. Start with what he wants and take it from there.

There are quite a few women who come here on a family visa and are then unceremoniously dumped by their British or ILR partners. If they have children or there has been domestic abuse then there is a route to getting NRPF lifted and changing their visa so they can stay but they have to know about it and there are often language barriers. Probably that happens to some men too but I don't think it's nearly as common.

Yes, this.

I'm confused by the question

The home office don't know that he exists (probably)

So he has to go and tell them that he wants to leave and they'll sort out a deportation flight. And the guy I met went into accommodation that they sorted while he was waiting for a flight home.

So if he wants to go home, he has to sort it out - no one can do it on his behalf? The church helped him with who to contact, but then he has to speak to them.

it's possible that none of this is applicable to the person OP is worried about anyway. But that's the answer to your question.

There are systems and statutory protections for people who have been trafficked, it’s not as simple as deport them. He would need to contact the Home Office or someone who is a reporting authority would refer him to the National Referral Mechanism, who would make a decision about whether he met the legal definition of a trafficked person. During that process there is accommodation and very limited financial support provided.

NRPF is a legal minefield, usually social work teams can provide some financial help from discretionary funds, but it’s tricky. Not everyone with NRPF is here illegally either, I have an extended family member here on a marriage visa who has NRPF.

Not everyone NRPF enters legally at all. We do NRPF assessments a lot, families will some times be able to be funded from social care

Very few people are incarcerated for deportation unless they have committed a crime. We have had some clients incarcerated after serving prison sentences, awaiting deportation but they're soon let out again as theres no room, so they just have requirements to check in until deportation.

He might be wise to discuss his situation and options with JCWI or similar before contacting the home office.

That's if he even has any immigration or NRPF issues. For all OP knows he could be a British citizen with full entitlement to public funds but simply unable to get it together to access help.