Rights and responsibilities

This section explains your rights and responsibilities while you are living temporarily or permanently in the UK.

During your stay here, you have the right to:

  • be treated fairly and lawfully regardless of your race, gender, age, religion, sexual orientation or any disability; and
  • practise your own religion - similarly, you are expected to show respect for people of other faiths.

It is your responsibility to:

  • obey the law;
  • care for your children (for example, children under the age of 16 must always be supervised by an adult, and they must go to school if they are aged between five and 16); and
  • report to the police, if you are required to do so. (The Reporting to the police page contains more information.)

For information about particular aspects of life in the UK, see the pages on:

The Gov.uk contains detailed information about these and many other aspects of life in this country.

Other useful sources of information include:

  • Citizens Advice, which has offices in towns and cities across the country;
  • the Yellow Pages and Thomson Local phone books;
  • your local council, for details of services such as education, social services and public transport in your area; and
  • public libraries, many of which also have free computers you can use to search for information.

If you are a refugee or an asylum applicant, there are organisations that can give you help and advice on adapting to life in the UK.