Statutory exclusion from social security:experiences of migrants in the UK

Poverty among children in migrant families in high-income countries has increasingly received attention from scholars. But the role that immigration policies themselves play in driving poverty is less well understood. Using existing evidence, this chapter considers the intersections between child poverty, race, ethnicity, nationality and immigration status. It examines how domestic immigration policies, particularly the ‘no recourse to public funds’ (NRPF) framework – which systematically and intentionally excludes migrant families from mainstream social security benefits – act to create and sustain poverty and material deprivation among children living in the UK. The author argues that social policy debates on inequality, social security and poverty must recognise the statutory exclusions created by immigration restrictions to understand how and why some children grow up in poverty in the UK. With more children in migrant families becoming excluded by NRPF restrictions in recent years, these effects are likely to increase in the future.