THOUSANDS of people have signed a petition calling on the UK Government to suspend regulations affecting more than 1.4 million migrants, which bar them from accessing public funds. The Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants (JCWI) and the Indoamerican Refugee and Migrant Organisation (IRMO) said the suspension of the No Recourse to Public Funds (NRPF) rules, which are attached to more than a million migrants’ visas, would exclude them from the public safety net. Their call came as JCWI research released yesterday showed a fifth of migrants surveyed, who were working before the pandemic, lost their job since it started and almost 75% were subject to NRPF and could not access government help.
RISHI SUNAK must scrap migrant welfare curbs in the upcoming Budget or risk driving an unprecedented number of families into destitution, campaigners warned today.
The Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants (JCWI) and the Indoamerican Refugee and Migrant Organisation (IRMO) urged the Chancellor today to drop the “no recourse to public funds” (NRPF) rule, which excludes an estimated 1.4 million people from accessing state support.
The call comes as the JCWI published new research suggesting that one in four migrants have lost their job during the pandemic.
Of those who became unemployed, 75 per cent are affected by the NRPF rule, which prevents them accessing most social security benefits and social housing.