An excellent piece written by my colleague @aleishao.bsky.social 👇

It's very good to see the government explicitly acknowledge 'no recourse to public funds' in their child poverty strategy.

The strategy commits the government to supporting vulnerable children regardless of immigration status.

Making the Child Poverty Strategy work for migrant families | IPPR At the time of writing, the UK government is preparing to launch a new national strategy to tackle child poverty. Weeks into being newly elected, prime min

But this must be the start, not the end.

I set out further steps to reduce child poverty among migrant families, including expanding access to free childcare, simplifying the process for lifting NRPF, and refreshing the list of public funds to reflect real needs.

🔗 www.ippr.org/articles/mak...

New guidance for local authorities on their duties to support children in need, and plans to improve data on NRPF, are important steps.
Both have been major gaps in the system and IPPR has consistently called for action here.

Our Children, Our Future: Tackling Child Poverty Strategy document setting out the government’s ambitious decade long mission to tackle the drivers of child poverty across the UK.

It’s encouraging to see the government finally acknowledge NRPF in the Child Poverty Strategy and commit to supporting vulnerable children regardless of immigration status.
This is a significant shift and long overdue.

www.gov.uk/government/p...

Making the Child Poverty Strategy work for migrant families | IPPR At the time of writing, the UK government is preparing to launch a new national strategy to tackle child poverty. Weeks into being newly elected, prime min

👶| NEW BLOG: Migrant families are the missing piece in the UK’s child poverty strategy. Our new analysis sets out what must change to make it work for everyone. Read here ⬇️ www.ippr.org/articles/mak...

A ‘paradigm shift’ in asylum and immigration policy? | IPPR The reforms – which were the culmination of years of increasingly restrictive policies – were designed to signal Denmark was no longer a welcoming country

'Paradigm shift' - my take on last week's asylum and settlement proposals.

Home secretary is right to focus on asylum reform, particularly on appeals.

But risk is that this agenda doesn't deliver on tackling small boats, while undermining integration in the process.

www.ippr.org/articles/a-p...

Headline thoughts on migration stats:

A sharp drop in net migration to 204,000 in year ending June 2025. While expected, it's still striking.

Much of this driven by restrictions on study dependants and Health and Care visa under last govt, as well as steady rise in emigration.

Today the government is lifting the 2-child limit – a major IPPR win that boosts incomes and improves opportunities for ~ 1.6m children.

Extra income in low-income families boosts health and attainment. By the end of the parliament, 450,000 fewer children will live in poverty.

A landmark moment.

With the Chancellor’s Budget tomorrow and the Child Poverty Strategy to follow, this is a pivotal moment. A credible plan to cut child poverty must account for the challenges facing migrant families.

Every child in the UK deserves a fair start in life, regardless of where their parents were born.

The number of children in poverty within migrant families is not a set of isolated cases, but a result of how welfare, immigration and asylum systems interact.

This is a crisis hidden in plain sight. Behind these numbers are families working, contributing and raising children who call Britain home.

Making the Child Poverty Strategy work for migrant families | IPPR At the time of writing, the UK government is preparing to launch a new national strategy to tackle child poverty. Weeks into being newly elected, prime min

4.45 million children in the UK live in poverty, and nearly 4 in 10 are in families where both parents were born abroad.

My blog sets out why this must be recognised in the upcoming Child Poverty Strategy.

🔗https://tinyurl.com/yc8mp55p

The PM says “social confidence” depends on an asylum system that is fair, effective and humane. That can’t be achieved if the debate is shaped through blame, suspicion and dehumanising language. Real confidence requires evidence-based policy and communication based on accuracy, dignity and respect.

At IPPR, our work on asylum accommodation, destitution and the hostile environment shows the system is not easy to navigate, nor is it consistently fair or effective. Asylum decision-making has not been fast enough, frequent enough, or of sufficient quality - not because people are exploiting it.

This framing reinforces harmful narratives and disproportionately impacts racialised and marginalised communities, including those already navigating the immigration system. It suggests that people seeking sanctuary are trying to “work against” the system, a claim not supported by evidence.

Last week’s asylum + immigration plans raised major concerns, with measures that could deepen delays, increase destitution + further strain the system.

Equally troubling is the rhetoric used to justify them. Terms like “asylum shoppers” or “abusing generosity” rely on divisive tropes, not evidence.

Unfinished business: Redressing inequality in British policy and Black lives | IPPR The economics of exclusion: Policy, poverty, and the cost of inequalityDeep disparities in wealth and opportunity continue to shape outcomes for Black comm

⚖️| NEW BLOG: British policy continues to entrench racial inequality, from economic exclusion to digital surveillance. Our latest blog calls for urgent reform to redress the impact on Black lives. Read here www.ippr.org/articles/unf...

Billions squandered on asylum accommodation by Home Office mismanagement – Home Affairs Committee report finds - Committees - UK Parliament Flawed contract design and incompetent delivery left the Home Office unable to cope with the surge in demand for asylum accommodation, a report by the Home Affairs Committee has found.

Important new report on the failures of the asylum accommodation system by Home Affairs Committee.

…picking back up with some news from this week 👇

The Home Affairs Select Committee has just published its report on asylum accommodation – and I’m pleased to see many of IPPR’s recommendations reflected in it.

The ten year route to settlement has already proven to be punishing for many. Listen to @amreenqureshi.bsky.social on BBC radio discussing the potential impact of increasing the default from five to ten years - on individuals, families and society.

I helped @theipaper.com with this article, explaining how further restrictions to accessing welfare is unlikely to reduce the number of people coming to the UK.

Read below ⬇️

The UK must introduce Gaza Family Visa as it did for Ukraine With dozens of children dying in Gaza every day, the UK must show the same flexibility it demonstrated in past crises

A classroom of children dies every day in Gaza. Yet since the war started in October 2023, only 80 children have been granted visas to come to the UK.

✏️ @amreenqureshi.bsky.social writes about the need for a Gaza Family Visa Scheme 👇

www.opendemocracy.net/en/uk-gaza-f...

This time last week I spoke at the Home Affairs Select Committee about fixing our asylum accommodation system. We urgently need to shift power regionally and locally, improve safeguarding, and move away from mass sites - towards community solutions that work for everyone.

ICYMI: A fantastic piece by my colleague @lucyhbmort.bsky.social - www.ippr.org/articles/cit...

When public confidence in immigration is shaped as much by perception as reality, Labour has a choice: follow the race to the bottom or build a system that strengthens communities - not fracture them.

Report Launch: Every Child is Equal — Praxis Praxis and the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) reveal the harmful impacts of being excluded from childcare support on migrant families in the new report - Every Child is Equal, Bridging...

3️⃣The government must also take steps to ensure that providers of family services are better equipped to help migrant families understand and take up the entitlements they are eligible for.

Read the full report: www.praxis.org.uk/news/report-...

REVEALED: A huge 30% of migrant parents not using childcare are struggling to make ends meet.

Our new report with @ippr.bsky.social is out now and here’s what you need to know 🧵

Authors @josephinewy.bsky.social & @lucyhbmort.bsky.social

Hidden hardships: The immigration system and child poverty | IPPR In 2022/23 it was estimated that 4.3 million children live in relative poverty, and this number has risen in recent years. Among those disproportionately i

The govt's child poverty strategy must support all children, regardless of immigration status:
✅ Remove NRPF for families after 5 years of residence
✅ Statutory guidance for councils to support families in crisis
✅ Extend childcare to working parents with NRPF

The @IPPR report🔗 tinyurl.com/yrbjptmb

📢Parents shared the reality of raising children under these conditions:

"I can’t buy clothes for my children, shoes, or even snacks" – Hafsa, a skilled worker visa holder

"I've dealt with immigration for 24 years and have yet to rest or feel at ease" – Sharon, a mother married to a British citizen

Families face legal, institutional & social barriers:
⚠️ NRPF restrictions lock families out of essential support like Child Benefit
⚠️ Extortionate visa fees force parents to pay thousands to stay in the UK
⚠️ Discrimination & language barriers limit work opportunities & make accessing support harder

Over a third of children in poverty in the UK are from migrant families:
📍 1.5 million children in poverty have parents born outside the UK
📍 1 in 5 of these children live in very deep poverty
📍 Many go without proper food, school trips, hobbies, or even a bedroom of their own