Recommendation 16

The immigration status of people sleeping rough who are non-UK nationals can affect their legal entitlement to benefits. In some cases these are immigrants from countries outside the European Economic Area (EEA), whose visas impose the condition that they have ‘no recourse to public funds’.59 Other sub-groups of non-UK nationals may also be legally restricted from claiming certain benefits, and are also often referred to under the heading ‘no recourse to public funds’ (although strictly speaking they do not fall within that category).60 Local authorities may legally bring people sleeping rough from all these groups into emergency accommodation if, following an individual assessment, they understand there to be a risk to life, such as during extreme winter weather.61