Local authority (section 17) support for migrant families

Section 17 of the Children Act 1989 places a general duty on local authorities to safeguard and promote the welfare of children in need. An important part of this duty is to promote the child’s upbringing by their families. Section 17 support can include a wide range of services but usually includes accommodation and/or essential living expenses.

Migrant families seeking support from the local authority will normally need such support where they have no recourse to public funds, are not able to access asylum support and are destitute.

Families with refugee status, humanitarian protection, ILR, limited leave to remain or discretionary leave will be eligible (subject to assessment). Individuals with derivative rights of residence are also not excluded from support.

Certain categories of people are not eligible for section 17 support: EEA nationals, most refused asylum seekers and people who are unlawfully present in the UK. The local authority can support a child directly but not an ineligible family as a whole. However, the local authority will still need to support an ineligible family  if it is necessary to avoid a breach of the family’s human rights.

The local authority has an obligation to inform the Home Office if an ineligible person approaches them for support.

The local authority must carry out a ‘child in need’ assessment for migrant families who cannot support themselves and become destitute. They can provide emergency support while carrying out an assessment if the child’s welfare is at risk.

The assessment will involve:

• gathering important information about a child and family,
• analysing the needs, risk and harm of the child,
• deciding whether the child is a child in need and/or is suffering, or likely to suffer, significant harm, and
• providing support to address those needs to improve the child’s outcomes to make them safe.

The local authority should make a decision about the type of response within 1 day. For example, the response could be to carry out an assessment, emergency procedures or no action. They should conclude the assessment within 45 working days from the day of referral.

Please see the NRPF’s practice guidance and the Department for Education’s statutory guidance for further details on carrying out an assessment.

The local authority will carry out a human rights assessment as part of the child in need assessment. This assessment looks at whether there are obstacles to the family leaving the UK and if they can be overcome. The assessment will consider the  human rights of the family and child, including Article 3 & Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

The local authority will consider:

• whether the person leaving the UK will prevent a human rights breach
• obstacles to the family leaving the UK (including health reasons and outstanding applications)
• possible breaches of human rights in the country of origin.

The most common barrier to removal will be that the family is waiting for a decision on an outstanding application. However, there will often be other reasons, such as the inability to obtain travel documents and being physically unfit to fly.

There is no right of appeal when the local authority refuses or withdraws support under section 17. The only way to challenge is through the local authority complaints process.

If the complaints process is exhausted, it might be possible to bring a judicial review. Judicial reviews must be made within 4 months of the decision to be reviewed and legal aid is available for judicial review.