What is NRPF Connect?

NRPF Connect is a secure online database that enables a council to:

• Obtain immigration status information from the Home Office in compliance with data protection legislation to help identify a person’s support options and whether the exclusion to social services’ support applies.
• Instantly ‘look up’ and view a persons’ digital immigration status to find out whether a person can access benefits and homelessness assistance, or whether the provision of social services ‘safety net’ support must be considered.
• Have the dedicated support of the NRPF Team in the Home Office and the NRPF Network to overcome complex casework issues and to expedite decision-making. 
• Have oversight of family, adult, looked after children, and care leaver caseloads for performance management purposes and financial forecasting.
• Identify presentations from people previously supported by other councils using the system.
• Contribute to the only data source on NRPF service provision to evidence costs and pressures on budgets arising from lack of government funding and policies that lead to cost-shunts.

The Recourse to Public Funds (RTPF) Checker enables a council to instantly ‘look-up’ a person’s immigration status and confirm whether they can access public funds (benefits and local authority housing assistance).  

For NRPF Connect users, the RTPF Checker is integrated into the case management system and forms part of the case-create and immigration status checking workflows that are used when a person or family request support from adult or children’s social care.  

As other local authority services may need to use the RTPF Checker to confirm whether a person has access to public funds or is subject to a NRPF condition, the RTPF Checker is available to purchase as a standalone service. For example, when establishing a person’s eligibility for homelessness assistance, the RTPF checker may need to be accessed if the person has not set up an eVisa account.

Find out how to access the RTPF checker. 

The service level reflects the data-processing, status-checking, and user-support needs of a local authority, as determined by its case numbers (referrals and financially supported cases) or the number of access accounts it requires.

The annual user charge starts at £3150 with different levels available for councils with larger caseloads or where multiple services across the council require access.

View all service levels and costs here

91 councils are using the database across the UK, including 30 out of 33 London boroughs.

When surveyed, 99% of NRPF Connect users would recommend using NRPF Connect to other councils and teams.  

Following integration with the Home Office Recourse to Public Funds (RTPF) Checker to enable digital immigration status checking, 93% of users agreed that the new facility would be useful to their work.  

Local authorities like using a simple and responsive casework system to support good communication and best practice approaches. With over 15,000 immigration checks completed every year – within agreed SLA timescales – local authorities are clearly benefiting from the Home Office’s dedicated support over the system.