Home Secretary’s failure to adequately identify discretion to lift the NRPF condition for those on student visas found unlawful

A great result on ‘no recourse to public funds’ (NRPF) litigation last week in PA & Anor, R (On the Application Of) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2023] EWHC 2476 (Admin) (06 October 2023) where the High Court found -

The Defendant rightly concedes that the … decision was unlawful. That is because the Defendant has a statutory discretion to consider lifting or not imposing the NRPF condition on the LLTR of those granted leave to remain including students and dependants. The Defendant failed to recognise the existence of that discretion, or failed to consider exercising it in making the … decision. That was unlawful under classic public law grounds, either as a misdirection in law or a fettering of discretion.

As a result, the NRPF condition was lifted from the claimant’s leave to remain and the SSHD issued a new policy (OPI 1415) on how caseworkers should consider applications to lift the NRPF condition in non-family life cases.