On 6 th March 2026 the Government announced a change in the immigration rules in relation to dependents of victims of domestic abuse, removing the financial requirement of ‘adequate maintenance and accommodation’. These rules will come into force on 26th March 2026.
Background
On 31st January 2024, Appendix Victims of Domestic Abuse was introduced to consolidate and update the legal framework governing setlement for victims of domestic abuse and their dependents. This Appendix provided for children of victims to be able to apply as their dependents and be granted setlement in line with their parents.
However, it also introduced a new financial requirement, requiring dependents to meet an ‘adequate maintenance and accommodation requirement’. This meant that applicants with children, including those who were destitute and were granted a fee waiver, had provide evidence that they have sufficientincome to support their family with no recourse to public funds or risk refusal of their children’s applications. Notably, the main applicant (the victim) was not required to meet this requirement.
Our work
Central England Law Centre (CELC) and the Refugee and Migrant Centre (RMC), partners of Birmingham NRPF Women’s Support Network, were amongst the first organisations to raise concerns about the implications of newly introduced maintenance and accommodation requirement.
Together, our organisations submit more than 400 settlement applications each year on behalf of individuals who are destitute, unable to afford application fees, and reliant on public funds and housing support for themselves and their dependants.
We identified immediately that, if enforced, the new requirement would result in refusals in the vast majority of our cases involving children. CELC led our initial response, writing to the Home Office in September 2024, to set out the issue and request a policy change.
We highlighted the clear and irrational contradiction between, on the one hand, granting access to public funds through the Migrant Victims of Domestic Abuse Concession (MVDAC) and approving fee waivers, and, on the other hand, requiring applicants to meet a maintenance and accommodation threshold in respect of their dependent children, given that meeting this requirement is by definition impossible for anyone in receipt of public funds or for those living in refuges or temporary accommodation.
We further raised the very real risk that such a policy would force some applicants to return to abusive former partners in order to prevent their children being left without lawful status in the UK. CELC and RMC also collaborated with national partners to share case examples and experiences and collectively advocate for changes to the immigration rules.
The outcome
The Government has now introduced amendments, due to take effect on 26th March 2026 which will remove the maintenance and accommodation requirement for dependent children, as well as the requirement for dependent children over the age of 18 to meet the English language and Life in the UK requirement. We welcome these changes, which provide vital security for children applying for setlement alongside their parent.
We will continue to advocate for further reforms and an expansion of the immigration rules relating to victims of domestic abuse, to ensure that all migrant women and girls are afforded meaningful protection and support, free from the control of perpetrators
View the briefing
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