Chairs call for Government to support people with no recourse to public funds

6 Apr 2020 11:47 AM

Rt Hon Stephen Timms, Chair of the Work and Pensions Committee has called on the Government to ensure workers who have no recourse to public funds because of their immigration status are properly supported during the coronavirus outbreak.

• Letter from Chairs to Home Secretary and Secretary of State
• Work and Pensions Committee

A joint letter with Rt Hon Yvette Cooper, Chair of the Home Affairs Committee, to the Home Secretary and the Work and Pensions Secretary raises concerns that such workers could be forced to choose between following public health guidance and facing financial hardship or risking exposing themselves to the virus in order to make ends meet.

Chair's comment

Rt Hon Stephen Timms, Chair of the Work and Pensions Committee, recently said:

“I was very pleased to hear last week that Ministers were discussing how best to support the large number of people who are working legally in the UK but whose immigration status means that they can’t access support from public funds, such as the benefits system.  But we’ve heard nothing since, while more and more people across the country can’t work because of coronavirus. The Government must clarify what it is doing to make it possible for those people to follow public health guidance, without making themselves destitute.”

Further information

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