COSLA Survey of Local Authority NRPF Support

As co-owners of the Ending Destitution Together Strategy, COSLA and Scottish Local Government are committed to supporting people across Scotland who are at increased risk of destitution due to No Recourse to Public Funds conditions. This commitment involves supporting households across Scotland, wherever possible, to avoid destitution and hardship.

Action 4 of the Ending Destitution Together Strategy commits partners to strengthening the provision of financial assistance and wider local authority support to destitute families with children and vulnerable adults.

In 2022, COSLA’s Community Wellbeing Board agreed to the introduction of an annual survey of local authorities to build an evidence base on these issues. This data aids understanding of the scope and scale of support needs from NRPF households in Scotland, and the unfunded costs of supports which are delivered as part of statutory safeguarding duties. Further information on the support and assistance local authorities are required to provide can be found here.

Information provided in this release provides high level aggregate data returned by Scottish local authorities across five reporting periods, tracking activity between 2020-2025.

This survey was produced in partnership with the Centre for Migration, Policy, and Society (COMPAS) at the University of Oxford. Data cited here is incorporated into national research on NRPF provision across the UK.

Note on interpretation of evidence 

The data provided in this release is viewed as an under reporting of NRPF destitution. As a result, data is presented on an at least basis. We anticipate that actual figures will be much higher and continue work with local authorities on the continual improvement of reporting of this data. 

2024/2025 Summary (Published February 2026)

Now in the fifth reporting year, the data provided by Scottish local authorities demonstrates a levelling off of referrals and support for destitute NRPF households following significant increases in previous years.

• Between 2020/21 and 2024/25 there was a 106% increase in referrals (from 908 to 1867 cases). In 2024/25, referrals increased by 2%.
• Between 2020/21 and 2024/25 there was a 199% increase in supported cases (from 578 to 1729). In 2024/25, the number of destitute households supported decreased by 7.4%.
• Across all reporting years, both referrals and supported cases have primarily related to households seeking support under the Children (Scotland) Act. In 2024/25, 87% of all supported cases were under Children (Scotland) Act provisions. Consistently high referrals under these provisions demonstrate the direct impact of the NRPF condition on child poverty rates in Scotland.
• Data on the demographic profile of NRPF households (Table 3) was similar in 2024/25 when compared with the previous year. Leave to Enter/Remain with NRPF (28.5%), Asylum Applicants (24.1%) and EEA Nationals (23.5%) continued to be the three largest cohorts, combining to make up over three-quarters of total cases. Domestic violence routes saw the largest increase with cases now making up 5.4% of total cases compared with 2.7% in 2023/24.
• Two additional immigration categories were added to the survey this year; Hong Kong BN(O) and Ukraine (Overstayer). This will improve data on the destitution experienced Hong Kong BN(O) visa holders and allow COSLA to monitor the impacts of the Ukraine Permission Extension (UPE). The UPE came into effect at the end of the reporting period so numbers are expected to be higher in future datasets.
• Reported local authority spend on support for households with NRPF fell by £1m (Table 4) from £6.4m to £5.4m. This reduction potentially reflects faster Home Office decision making allowing people to move on from local authority support more quickly. Additionally, domestic violence cases tend to have quicker routes to access public funds meaning their increase may have caused shorter average times in local authority care and therefore reduced costs. Cost data is still likely an under reporting with some local authorities unable to provide data in this field.

2024/25 Data Update (Published February 2026)