Right, I might be a bit dense on this one, but can foreign nationals who have paid the appropriate amount of NI and are currently receiving SSP claim IB. I have a client who is South African, who came to Scotland to work 3 years ago, has been ill and claiming SSP for 5 months. Her work visa says "no access to public funds". What might she be entitled to?

IB is not public funds - if she's got the NI she can claim.

Hurray - do you know where I can find a list of what is and isn't public funds?

Here is a link to the www.ukvisas.gov.uk websites' current listing of public funds -

http://www.ukvisas.gov.uk/servlet/Front?pagename=OpenMarket/Xcelerate/ShowPage&c=Page&cid=1018721085371

Cheers - oh how I love rightsnet!

Ali x

Wed 02-Feb-05 11:42 AM by ken

Hi ali,

Although www.ukvisas.gov.uk is a government website, perhaps another useful link is the following to the

Immigration and Nationality Directorate (IND) website

which as well as defining and listing public funds, also gives guidance on the menaing of various terms contained in the Immigration Acts.