CEY1463

Written evidence submitted by the Greater Manchester Immigration Aid Unit (GMIAU)

Greater Manchester Immigration Aid Unit is a charity offering free legal immigration advice, representation and support services to people subject to immigration control in the North West of England. The Unit provides immigration legal advice to around 5,000 people each year and representation casework to over 1,000 people. Applications for leave to remain for people in the immigration system are one of the most common types of representation we provide. We also provide support services to people who are homeless or destitute. We are responding to this call for evidence with an answer to the question “Are the current entitlements providing parents/carers with sufficient childcare, and to what extent are childcare costs affecting parents/carers from returning to work full-time?” This is because we find in our work supporting people in the North West, and through the direct lived experience of campaigners in our region, that current childcare entitlements are not providing parents/carers subjected to immigration control with sufficient childcare and that this negatively impacts their ability to work.

This answer is focused on people with limited leave to remain who are on the ten-year route to settlement in the UK. People who receive limited to remain (LLR) on the basis of their family life or private life are typically given leave subject to a No Recourse to Public Funds (hereafter NRPF) condition, meaning they cannot access most benefits. They are also put on a ten-year route, meaning that they have to apply for four rounds of 2.5 years of LLR before being able to apply for indefinite leave to remain. Often leave to remain on the family life route is given is on the basis of having a British child, or a child who has lived in the UK for 7 years or more, meaning many people on the ten-year route are parents of children who are growing up in the UK.

People on the ten-year route with NRPF are not eligible for the 30 hours of free childcare for 3 and 4 year olds, due to not meeting the residence requirement. It is our view that they, and their children who are either British already or who are living in the UK from a very young age, should not be excluded on the basis of their immigration status. People with NRPF cannot access the welfare safety net others can and therefore are forced to work as much as possible, as the only way to provide for themselves and their children. Additionally, people on the 10 year route have to pay very high fees each time they renew their leave to remain, adding up to a total of £12,836 for one person to settle in the UK on this route. But the high costs of childcare beyond 15 hours makes it more difficult for parents to work to save the money they need for this extremely expensive route, as well as to provide for their day to day needs. The government’s own evaluation of the roll out of 30 hours free childcare showed that access to this extra childcare particularly helped mothers to increase their work hours,[1] which is exactly what many people on the ten-year route desperately need to do. 30 hours of childcare for three and four year olds should be extended to people regardless of their immigration status, including people with limited leave to remain.

It is positive that people with NRPF are included in the 15 hour entitlements for 2, 3 and 4 year olds and that there is an application form to access it specifically designed for people with NRPF. The recent policy change to include everyone in the childcare provisions for disadvantaged two year olds[2] demonstrates that change is possible and is a recognition of the importance of access to free childcare to help safeguard children’s welfare. From our own experience at GMIAU, when our Service Manager informed a young woman with NPRF of her entitlement “She was so pleased with the prospect of her daughter going to nursery. She’s a bright chatty girl who would flourish in a nursery environment and really benefit from the contact with other children. It also means that our client gets a bit of a break from looking after two small children all on her own. It’ll bring huge benefits to both mother and daughter in terms of the child’s development and wellbeing and also provide some structure to the week and prepare the young girl for school. The impact on the mum’s wellbeing will be significant, and she will be able to give more time to her youngest.”

People who are seeking asylum are also able to access this support. However, outreach has not been sufficient and not enough people are aware that they are eligible for help with childcare. Our Service Manager is clear that the mother she supported (previous paragraph) would not have been aware of her childcare entitlement if she had not already been accessing GMIAU services. People may misunderstand, or be misinformed, about what public funds are given that they are excluded from much government support. The Hostile Environment creates a chilling effect where people are hesitant to access services to which they are entitled due to fear of being penalised in some way.

Another effect of the Hostile Environment is that, given the general hostility to people who are not British, members of staff at, for example, nurseries, sometimes act as gatekeepers or de facto immigration officers. We have heard of nursery or council staff giving incorrect information as to what people’s entitlements are if they do not have a British passport and therefore turning people away. There must be a greater effort to inform providers and parents of the availability of 15 hours childcare for everyone, including people with NRPF or who are seeking asylum. The Hostile Environment must end if people are to fully benefit from their entitlements to help with childcare.

In the next six weeks a report from the Institute of Public Policy Research (IPPR) will be launched - in partnership with GMIAU and Praxis - about the experience of people living on the ten-year route. The report contextualises this submission and provides some further information on the difficulties people face accessing childcare and the impact this then has on their ability to work. We will send a copy of the report to the Committee as further evidence.

January 2023