Local authorities are the primary point of engagement for identifying where refugees are to be resettled, and lead on work with local partners and communities to help families settle into their new homes.
Key messages
- Local government have an excellent track record in welcoming asylum seekers and refugees. Councils and their partners will be helping some of the most vulnerable families access ongoing support services to help them cope with injuries, disabilities and recover from the severe trauma they may have experienced.
- Councils continue to work hard to support the Syrian Vulnerable Persons Resettlement scheme alongside all the other schemes in current operation. Over 5,453 Syrians were resettled in under the scheme by March 2017across 235 authorities. We are confident that there will be sufficient pledges to support the Government's aim to resettle 20,000 people by 2020 and the focus should be now on ensuring families are well supported.
- We welcome the funding announced to contribute to local activity to resettle Syrian refugees and the recent announcement of additional funding for English as a Second Language (ESOL) for the Syrian programme, given access to ESOL is crucial to resettlement.
- There are multiple different schemes in operation for supporting refugees and there are also thousands of asylum seekers who are not housed by councils, but who rely on council services. Clear links need to be made across all the programmes that resettle asylum seekers and refugees to make sure there is enough funding and support available.
Read the full briefing
Debate on the experience of new refugees in the UK - 19 July 2017