support for families where the parent(s) has No Recourse to Public Funds (NRPF) status under Section 17 of the Children Act 1989 (13 questions) (FOI-88)
Customer
Please provide the following information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000. 1. How many requests for support from families where the parent(s) has No Recourse to Public Funds (NRPF) status have the council received in the last 6 months under Section 17 of the Children Act 1989? 2. How many requests for support from individuals with No Recourse to Public Funds (NRPF) status have the council received in the last 6 months under Section 18 of the Care Act 2014 (for adults with care needs)? 3. How many requests for support from individuals with No Recourse to Public Funds (NRPF) status have the council received in the last 6 months under Section 23 and 24 of the Care Act for a young person formerly looked after by the local authority? 4. How many requests for support under Section 17 of the Children Act 1989 from families where the parent(s) has No Recourse to Public Funds (NRPF) status have the council received in the last 6 months where the parent(s) immigration status excludes them from social services support under Schedule 3 of the Nationality Asylum and Immigration Act 2002? 5. How many requests for support under Section 18 or Section 23 and 24 of the Care Act 2014 from individuals with No Recourse to Public Funds (NRPF) status have the council received in the last 6 months where the individual is excluded under Schedule 3 of the Nationality Asylum and Immigration Act 2002? 6. How many Child in Need assessments were carried out by the council on families where the parent(s) has NRPF status in the last 6 months (full assessments not just initial screening)? 7. How many Human Rights assessments were conducted by the council where an individual, or parent(s) if it is a family case, has NRPF status and is excluded under Schedule 3 of the Nationality Asylum and Immigration Act 2002 in the 6 months? 8. When the council receives a referral for support for a family with NRPF status under Section 17 of the Children Act 1989, what is the statutory process to respond to these referrals, does the local authority Children
s Services use an initial screening to decide whether a full Child in Need assessment is required? 9. Does the council use social workers or caseworkers (or both) to conduct the assessments used to decide whether to provide support to individuals or families with NRPF status? 10. How many requests for support were granted by the council resulting in the individual or family with NRPF receiving support from the council in the last 6 months: a. under Section 17 of the Children Act 1989? b. under Section 18 of the Care Act 2014? c. under Sections 23 and 24 of the Care Act 2014? 11. How many of the cases where individuals or families with NRPF status received support from the council in the last six months were individuals who were also excluded under Schedule 3 of the Nationality, Asylum and Immigration Act 2002? 12. For the requests for support under Section 17 of the Children Act 1989 for families where the parent(s) has NRPF status that were refused, how many of the cases were refused for each of the following reasons: a. The immigration status of the family (parent(s)) precludes the local authority from providing support under Section 17 of the Children Act 1989. b. That the family did not live in the borough and was therefore the responsibility of a different local authority. c. That the family were deemed not to be destitute or the child(ren) were deemed not
in need
and hence they did not require support. d. The parents did not have leave to remain in the UK and could freely return to their country of origin (there was no legal or practical barrier to their return). e. Other reason 13. Do you have a dedicated staff member or staff team that deals specifically with individuals or families with
No Recourse to Public Funds
status within your local authority?
Customer
To whom it may concern,
FOI reference: FOI - 88
I submitted an FOI on the 21st May to Hackney council. 20 working days have
now passed since I submitted the FOI and it is now overdue. Could you
please send me an update as soon as possible on the progress of the FOI and
when I can expect to receive a response?
Many thanks in advance for your assistance.
On Mon, May 21, 2018 at 5:39 PM [email protected] <
[email protected]> wrote:
> Thank you for your information request.
>
> This is an automated response and acknowledgement. If you have submitted a
> request under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) or the Environmental
> Information Regulations (EIR), your request will be considered and you will
> receive our response within the statutory timescale of 20 working days.
>
Message from Hackney Council
Dear
Re: Freedom of Information Request.
Thank you for your request for information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, received 24 May 2018. We would like to offer our sincere apologies for the delay in responding to your enquiry. Your request has been considered and our response is in bold below.
You requested the following:
- How many requests for support from families where the parent(s) has No Recourse to Public Funds (NRPF) status have the council received in the last 6 months under Section 17 of the Children Act 1989?
The requested information is not held in a readily retrievable format and there is no automated mechanism for the collation of the required data. Therefore, provision of this information would require manual review and processing of a large volume of data, considerably exceeding the limit and time and resource under FOIA.The information is therefore exempt under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.Please see below the exemption applicable and the reason/s why it has been applied.
Section 12: Cost of compliance exceed the appropriate limit
A public authority is not obliged to comply with a request for information if the authority estimates that the cost of complying with the request would exceed the appropriate limit. Staff time based upon a rate of £25 per hour is limited to £450 (18 hours) for public authorities. This is an absolute exemption.
The Freedom of Information and Data Protection (Appropriate Limit and Fees) Regulations 2004 has set the appropriate limit as £450 based on a charge of £25 per hour. Section 12 of the Act states that the Council is not obligated to comply with a request for information if the authority estimates that the costs of complying with the request would exceed the appropriate limit.
- How many requests for support from individuals with No Recourse to Public Funds (NRPF) status have the council received in the last 6 months under Section 18 of the Care Act 2014 (for adults with care needs)?
The number of requests for support received under Section 18 of the Care Act for public funds were 15.
- How many requests for support from individuals with No Recourse to Public Funds (NRPF) status have the council received in the last 6 months under Section 23 and 24 of the Care Act for a young person formerly looked after by the local authority?
The number of request/s for support received under Section 23 & 24 of the Care Act for public funds was one.
There have been seven requests from unaccompanied asylum seeking children with No Recourse to Public Funds (NRPF) status who turned 18 years of age between December 2017 and 21 May 2018.
- How many requests for support under Section 17 of the Children Act 1989 from families where the parent(s) has No Recourse to Public Funds (NRPF) status have the council received in the last 6 months where the parent(s) immigration status excludes them from social services support under Schedule 3 of the Nationality Asylum and Immigration Act 2002?
The requested information is not held in a readily retrievable format and there is no automated mechanism for the collation of the required data. Therefore, provision of this information would require manual review and processing of a large volume of data, considerably exceeding the limit to time and resource under FOIA. The information is exempt under the FOIA.
Please refer to the exemption applied and response to Q1.
- How many requests for support under Section 18 or Section 23 and 24 of the Care Act 2014 from individuals with No Recourse to Public Funds (NRPF) status have the council received in the last 6 months where the individual is excluded under Schedule 3 of the Nationality Asylum and Immigration Act 2002?
The number of request/s for support received under Section 18, 23 & 24 of the Care Act for public funds and was excluded under the Schedule 3 was 16.
In relation to children & young people, the requested information is not held in a readily retrievable format and there is no automated mechanism for the collation of the required data. Therefore, provision of this information would require manual review and processing of a large volume of data, considerably exceeding the limit to time and resource under FOIA. The information is exempt under the FOIA.
Please refer to the exemption and response applied to Q1
- How many Child in Need assessments were carried out by the council on families where the parent(s) has NRPF status in the last 6 months (full assessments not just initial screening)?
During the period, 41 families had an assessment started by the council.Of these, 21 progressed to a Children in Need (CIN) plan, 15 were closed with no further action and 5 remain open.This equates to 66 children being assessed, where 36 progressed to a CIN plan, 24 were closed with no further action and 6 remain open.
- How many Human Rights assessments were conducted by the council where an individual, or parent(s) if it is a family case, has NRPF status and is excluded under Schedule 3 of the Nationality Asylum and Immigration Act 2002 in the 6 months?
0 – There were no Human Rights assessment conducted regarding adults.
In relation to children and families, there have not been any Human Rights assessments conducted by the council where an individual, or parent(s) if it is a family case, has NRPF status and is excluded under Schedule 3 of the Nationality Asylum and Immigration Act 2002 in the 6 months
- When the council receives a referral for support for a family with NRPF status under Section 17 of the Children Act 1989, what is the statutory process to respond to these referrals, does the local authority Children’s Services use an initial screening to decide whether a full Child in Need assessment is required?
Yes.The council undertakes initial screening to determine whether a full assessment is required.
- Does the council use social workers or caseworkers (or both) to conduct the assessments used to decide whether to provide support to individuals or families with NRPF status?
Both caseworkers and Social Workers gather initial information and Social Workers complete assessments regarding adults.
In relation to children, we use social workers to conduct the assessments that decide whether to provide support to individuals or families with NRPF status.
- How many requests for support were granted by the council resulting in the individual or family with NRPF receiving support from the council in the last 6 months:
- under Section 17 of the Children Act 1989?
51 families received support from the council within the time period.All seven cases of the unaccompanied asylum seeker children received support as care leavers on turning 18 years of age.
- under Section 18 of the Care Act 2014?
Section 18 – 2 for adults (not all referrals received in the last 6 months have been concluded yet and therefore, outcomes unknown)
- under Sections 23 and 24 of the Care Act 2014?
Section 23 and 24 – None for adults
- How many of the cases where individuals or families with NRPF status received support from the council in the last six months were individuals who were also excluded under Schedule 3 of the Nationality, Asylum and Immigration Act 2002?
There were 2 individuals excluded under Schedule 3 of the Nationality, Asylum and Immigration Act 2002.
In relation to children, there have not been any case where individuals or families with NRPF status received support from the council in the last six months, where individuals who were also excluded under Schedule 3 of the Nationality, Asylum and Immigration Act 2002
- For the requests for support under Section 17 of the Children Act 1989 for families where the parent(s) has NRPF status that were refused, how many of the cases were refused for each of the following reasons:
- The immigration status of the family (parent(s)) precludes the local authority from providing support under Section 17 of the Children Act 1989.
- That the family did not live in the borough and was therefore the responsibility of a different local authority.
- That the family were deemed not to be destitute or the child(ren) were deemed not ‘in need’ and hence they did not require support.
- The parents did not have leave to remain in the UK and could freely return to their country of origin (there was no legal or practical barrier to their return).
- Other reason
The requested information is not held in a readily retrievable format and there is no automated mechanism for the collation of the required data. Therefore, provision of this information would require manual review and processing of a large volume of data, considerably exceeding the limit to time and resource under FOIA. The information is exempt under the FOIA.
Please refer to the exemption and response applied to Q1
- Do you have a dedicated staff member or staff team that deals specifically with individuals or families with ‘No Recourse to Public Funds’ status within your local authority?
Yes, we do have a dedicated staff member that deals specifically with individuals or families with ‘No Recourse’.
The Overstaying Families Intervention Team (OFIT) is the dedicated team that deals specifically with children and families with ‘No Recourse to Public Funds’.
Appeals & Complaints Procedure
If you are dissatisfied with this response and wish to appeal, please write to the Information Management Team, [email protected] and this will be dealt with through our Internal Review procedure.
Your request for an internal review should be submitted to us within 40 working days of receipt by you of this response. Any such request received after this time will only be considered at the discretion of the Council.
If you are still not satisfied following the Internal Review, you have a right to appeal to the Information Commissioner at the contact details provided below.
Information Commissioner"s Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
Telephone: 01625 545 700
Yours sincerely
Information Management Team
Page updated: 15/06/2021 09:52:16