Coronavirus lockdown: charities raise alarm as thousands face poverty

Charities providing emergency food supplies to people with a limited immigration status known as “no recourse to public funds” have expressed concern at the prime minister’s refusal to offer support to a group pushed into destitution by the lockdown.

Hundreds of thousands of immigrants in the UK have an immigration status that allows them to work here but prevents them from accessing most benefits should they become unemployed. Many have lost their jobs because of the Covid-19 pandemic and are struggling to feed their families and pay rent; many face losing their homes once restrictions on evictions are lifted.

In east London, volunteers have been feeding hundreds of families unable to buy food because work has dried up. Lakmini Shah, a Labour councillor in East Ham, where about 57% of the population were born outside the UK, has been distributing boxes of food and essential items donated by businesses to about local 40 families every week since the end of March.

“There’s a perception that immigrants come here to get benefits from the government and that’s not true. These are people who have always worked but who lost their employment as soon as lockdown began, and that’s when their difficulties began,” Shah said, sorting boxes of pasta and rice in her front yard.

“Most people feel too embarrassed to talk about this and they don’t know where to go for help. Everyone is worried about how they are going to pay the rent.”

MPs have attempted to push this issue on to the political agenda in the past fortnight. During questions from the liaison committee 10 days ago, the prime minister appeared to be uncertain about the details of this status and promised to review the policy, saying: “People who’ve worked hard for this country who live and work here should have support of one kind or another.”

Informed about a Children’s Society estimate that there are more than 100,000 children in this situation, with no safety net, he said: “We will see what we can do to help.”

However, asked again at prime minister’s questions last week about the growing numbers of migrants who are living and working here lawfully, who have been pushed into extreme poverty because of having no recourse to public funds, Johnson appeared to have been briefed on the immigration category.

He declared that “everybody knows” that no recourse to public funds is a policy that applies to people who have temporary immigration status, adding: “But it is a term of art; it does not mean that they are necessarily excluded from all public funds.”

Stephen Timms, the Labour MP for East Ham who raised the issue with the prime minister last week, rejected this explanation. “For very many of those affected that’s exactly what it means,” he said, calling on the government to suspend the condition for the duration of the crisis, at least for families with children.

He said: “Many hard-working families in East Ham have leave to remain, but no recourse to public funds. They are suffering severe hardship as a result. I agree with the prime minister’s point at the liaison committee, that people in this position “should have support of one kind or another”.

Ali and Noreen (who asked for their full names not to be printed, because they were nervous about complicating their immigration applications) moved to the UK from Pakistan 15 years ago, and were among those collecting emergency food supplies from Shah’s yard to help feed their family.

Ali has worked here and paid taxes since arriving, and until lockdown was running his own business assisting international students hoping to study in the UK. His work has dried up as international travel has come to a virtual halt, and he and his wife have been unable to pay rent and have found it difficult to buy food for their three teenage children.

Visa renewals for a family of five cost about £12,000, which must be paid every two-and-a-half years, until they are eligible to apply for British citizenship, after a process that lasts 10 years.

Putting aside money for visa costs has meant that they have no savings and are struggling to pay rent on their one-bedroom flat. They will need to renew their visas again this October, and are wondering who they can borrow money from and which belongings they can sell to help meet the cost.

Although landlords are prevented from evicting tenants during lockdown, the family have been told that they will face eviction later this summer if they are unable to make up their arrears. “We came here legally. I had a respectable job and paid taxes. It feels unfair – there is no safety net,” Ali said.

Noreen has taken on a part-time job as a care worker in a care home to bring in alternative income, but is on a precarious minimum-wage, zero-hours contract and is not earning enough to pay the rent. They have tried to keep the details of their immigration status from their children, but the oldest is aware that she will struggle to receive funding to study at university here, despite having lived her all her life.

Charities in nearby Newham have also begun feeding hundreds of students, mostly from India, who have lost the part-time jobs in local shops and restaurants which subsidised their studies. International student visas also have a no recourse to public funds status attached to their visas.

Kumar Arumugam, the secretary of the Tamil Sangam local community centre, was preparing to distribute food packages to around 130 students on Sunday evening. “We’ve seen real desperation. People have been queuing in the streets in their hundreds and we have had to turn people away,” he said.

A government spokesperson said: “We have been clear that no one should find themselves destitute during this crisis due to circumstances beyond their control.

“We have taken extensive action to support those with no recourse to public funds, including protections from eviction for renters and mortgage holidays, helping the employed, self-employed and those on zero-hour contracts. Individuals on the 10-year route can apply at any time to have conditions lifted or for access to benefits if their financial circumstances change.”

Officials were unable to say how many people have been issued visas with this status or how many people have applied for this exemption, and were unable to reveal the number of people who have been granted an exemption.

Charities supporting people with this immigration status say getting an exemption is extremely difficult because it requires individuals to prove that they are destitute.

Zoe Gardner, a policy adviser with the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants, said she felt the prime minister had not understood the gravity of the situation facing many with this immigration status. “His response suggested that he believes NRPF is some kind of minor technicality, but we see the real world consequences it has every day.

“Contrary to what the PM said, NRPF bars most migrants from accessing a vast proportion of the social security net we all rely on in times of crisis. They are barred from universal credit, disability allowances, local authority homelessness support, free school meals and access to mainstream refuges for victims of domestic violence, among others.

“The reality is this leaves many thousands in extreme poverty and unable to escape debt or access decent housing or provide for their families’ most basic needs.”

The joint council, along with over 40 migrants’ right organisations, has called for the government to scrap the no recourse to public funds status.