refugees settled through community sponsorship
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Question for Short Debate, support and resources for refugee settlement, The Lord Bishop of Chelmsford.
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My Lords, I'm grateful to have
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approach to refugee settlement. It
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debate and for those who
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building relationships and new livesIt's a considerable commitment and an expression of the best
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Or as the Prime Minister might choose to see it, a courageous example of
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People want to help provide refugee protection. The government's role is to create a safe, managed
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that the government will today
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open applications to the scheme. If I'm correct, that will be an important milestone, and I hope that this debate offers
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success
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Communities need to know what is expected of them.
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the programme hopes to support and what resources are available. These are questions of ambition, capacity and responsibility.
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too often presented as a choice between compassion or control.
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communities choose to participate.
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prepared for. Accommodation and support are planned and secured beforehand.
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unknown
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This contrasts starkly with disorderly arrivals, emergency hoteland last minute dispersals.
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undermine trust and fuel anxiety. Sponsorship instead
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cohesion establishes relationships from the start and leads to faster integration.
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dependence, reducing long-term costs associated with homelessness, unemployment and poor health.It's right that the
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by the willingness and capacity of communities rather than
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an arbitrary cap. But can I ask the noble Lord the Minister how the Government will assess that capacity and
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the potential for growth as infrastructure develops through new pathways for education andemployment
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How will faith groups, refugee-led organisations, voluntary sector organisations and local authorities be
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emerging humanitarian disaster
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A mature system could provide a durable framework for future crises without requiring entirely new programs. Homes for Ukraine
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hit the public's willingness to respond with over 175,000 arrivals.
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The Government has said arrivals through the resettlement scheme and sponsorship routes will initially number in the hundreds, rising to the low
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become fully accessible to other parts of the world, not just those currently named.
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The existing scheme has supported more than 1,200 refugees through over 200 sponsors.
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I contacted organisations supporting refugees to gauge their interest in participating, as well as the
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England. I heard from The Salvation Army, Welcome Churches, The Pickwell Foundation, Refugee Education UK, Citizens UK, Reset, RohingyaAssociation UK, Welsh Refugee Council and Micro Rainbow.
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is emotionally and
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demanding, particularly in divisive times. Those giving their time and resources should be recognized and protected.
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Civil society and government must work closely together, so
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My question also concerns the support available to sponsors. It would be easy to focus on funding without acknowledging the
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have to build societal infrastructure
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ownership becomes a self-sustaining, resilient and community-owned model.
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Generosity cannot replace professional support, so how will the government help lead sponsors to offer
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specialist assistance, including training, safeguarding and administrative support? And how will it ensure
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Sponsorship remains accessible to less affluent groups that wish to participate, including local churches and faith groups.
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My Lords, the question before us today isn't simply how many refugees the government intends to welcome through sponsorship.It's whether the government is ready to build a programme the communities can participate in confidently and refugees can rely on.
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Community sponsorship can be a powerful expression of shared responsibility. It's a safe and controlled model and importantly it's rooted in
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sustained support and a clear commitment from government, it can offer refugees not only safety but theopportunity to
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to flourish and to contribute.
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My Lords, I'm incredibly grateful to
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The Lord Bishop of Chelmsford
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bringing this vital issue before the House today and for the excellent and eloquent introduction to the debate. The question of how we resource, support and scale our
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programmes go to the very heart of who we are as a nation. I welcome the Government's commitment to expanding our safe and legal routes, specifically through the introduction of the newcommunity sponsorship, refugee study and refugee workstreams. These are commendable steps in the right direction.However, having had the privilege of serving as a Minister for Faith, Communities and Rough Sleeping, I know first-hand that a policy framework is only as strong as the infrastructure supporting
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During my time in office, I was consistently humbled by the immense, untapped generosity and operational capacity of our civil society. Frome churches and mosques tolocal neighbourhood coalitions and secular charities
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The British public has a profound desire to step up and welcome those fleeing conflict and persecution.
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Community sponsorship is not merely an alternative delivery model for immigration policy; it is a gold standard for integration. Traditional state-led resettlement
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provides a roof and basic safety net, which is vital, but community sponsorship provides a community.When a local group wraps its arms around a refugee family, the results are transformative.
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We see accelerated language acquisition, swifter entry into meaningful employment and deep-rooted social connections. Neighborsdon't just handover keys, they help register children at the local school, navigate GP appointments and introduce new arrivals.
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employers. This model actively fosters social cohesion, bridging cultural divides and building sharedpurpose at a grassroots level. My Lords, if we want to see the true transformative potential of this model when it is backed by real governmentambition, we only need to look across the Atlantic to Canada, as mentioned by the right hon. Prelate.For nearly five decades, Canada's private
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partnership of refugees programme has been the global benchmark.Since its inception, ordinary Canadian citizens
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The Canadian
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speaks for itself. Decades of independent longitudinal studies show that privately sponsored refugees consistently find employment faster, learn the
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language more rapidly and report a higher sense of belonging than those entering through standard government assistant routes. Why?because they arrive with a ready-made social network of citizens completely invested in their success. Canada proved to the world that when you trust civil society
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When you build a robust partnership between the state and the community, you create an engine for successful integration that scales naturally.
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Yet, if we are to unlock that same potential here, the Government
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must match the ambition of ourinternational peers. The recent indication from the Home Office that initial arrivals across the UK resettlement scheme and those and these new streams will number only in the lowHundreds is frankly overly cautious. While I understand the need for careful management, we must remember thatCommunity sponsorship is uniquely scalable. Because it relies heavily on civil society's energy and private goodwill, it alleviatesrather than exacerbates the immediate strain on hard-pressed local authority budgets. The low hundreds should not be treated as a comfortable ceiling; it must be a strict baseline for year one.
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more. We must address the bureaucratic barriers that historically cause enthusiastic local groups to lose momentum. If we are opening theseto non-profits and charities, the accreditation and vetting processes must be rigorous but accessible.
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Overly complex financial checks and prolonged processing delays can smother community goodwill before a single family even arrives.My Lords, our finest asset in integrating refugees is the open hearts and operational capability of our faith and community groups. Let us give them the tools, the streamlined processesand the long-term certainty they need to succeed. I urge the Government to expand this vision, resource our sponsors adequately,and allow British communities to do what they do best, welcome, integrate and heal. My Lords, to ensure our communities are truly empowered to deliver this
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I would like to put four specific brief questions to my noble friend the Minister.
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The noble Friend has noted that initial arrivals across the UKRS and the new community sponsorship routes will be in the low hundreds. In the past, this has been mentioned. Can the GovernmentOutline what specific criteria or milestones will be used to trigger an expansion of these numbers as more charities and nonprofits achieve accredited status.
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Government opens up the new community sponsorship streams. What steps are being taken to streamline the application and vetting processes so that smaller grassCommittee groups are not inadvertently locked
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by prohibitive prohibitive administrative administrative red tape. Thirdly, will the Government consider establishing a dedicated regional Home Office liaison unit tasked specifically with providing ongoing operational
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training resources and troubleshooting support to accredited sponsors during their first critical year of hosting. And finally, while community sponsorship leverages immense voluntary resource, local statutory services
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and healthcare still experience impacts. Can my noble friend the Minister clarify how the funding architecture for these new routes will ensure local authorities are adequately compensated alongside
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voluntary sponsors. I look forward to the response of my noble friend the Minister.
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My Lords, I declare my interest as someone who has hosted a family from Ukraine for four years who have recently moved on and I'm expecting another family to arrive just before
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I agree with the right reverend Prelate the Bishop of Chelmsford that we need to be certain that steps are taken to provide adequate support and resources to sponsors.
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context, but I think it is worth looking at the Homes for Ukraine scheme, which has supported thousands
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of Ukrainians, with individual families opening their
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Last year, this was reduced to £350 a month, and now the Department for Communities and Local Government has said that the monthly rate is
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going to be reduced to £100 a month from the 1st of January next year.
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Ostentatiously, this is based on the view that Ukrainian families should by now have been able to develop their own resources here.at the same cut of over 70% will apply to UK families taking Ukrainians who have just arrived.
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And the situation is getting worse. Even while we have been sitting in this chamber in the last hour, 14 people were killed at arailway station by a Russian drone
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A fortnight ago, the Lord Privy Seal rightly argued in this place that the moral obligation of this country to do what we can, practically, to help Ukraine and its people remains as high as ever.
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And the noble Lady seemed surprised when I told her about the change to the arrangements of funding for hosts.
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Research
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Hosts were originally asked to commit to six months. After that time, 23% pulled out as they could no longer afford it, and 9
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at significant extra costs such as utilities and food
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And the Local Government Association has told us that thousands of Ukrainian households have had to register as homeless here after their hosting arrangements collapsed.
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Apart from the fact that this may well cost the local authorities more than the proposed cuts, it is also incredible to me that we offer families a safe haven from a country at war and yet they may end upsleeping on our streets
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My Lords, Ukraine, and particularly its capital, is facing a devastating winter.
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we have hosted for four years is still in Kyiv. In the last three weeks, he has had three hours of running water. He spends nights either sleepingcorridor or in
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two hours electricity a day
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And this week I received an email from the guest who is joining us shortly with his young son.
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The mother is no longer alive.
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He said, the situation in Kyiv feels more dangerous now than at any other time during these four years of war, with almost constant air raid alerts.the tax. The city sometimes feels more like a place
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at the front line. Even going outside hasa source of uncertainty and
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Yet the combination of reduced funding and high living costs has drastically reduced the number of families who are able to sponsor.
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concern, which I think also needs to be taken into account, is the lack of clarity on the duration of these
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which not only affects Ukrainian children, many of whom are now totally integrated into our education system, but it also affects their mothers or parents who aretrying to get a job, trying to find somewhere to rent, but with no fixed idea of how long they will be here. And this
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unnecessarily stressed to an alreadyintolerable situation
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So I would urge His Majesty's Government to look again at their changes to the Homes for Ukraine scheme, to reconsiderthe proposed cut of almost three-quarters in the amount paid to host families, and to make sure that lessons are learned.And at the resettlement of refugees through community sponsorship is at is adequately resourced. Thank you.
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taking part remotely, I invite Baroness Brinton to speak.
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My Lords, I declare my interest as a vice-president of the Local Government Association. My Lords, I congratulate the Bishop of Chelmsford for securing this short but important debate on the process of allowing refugees to settle through community sponsorship, to assess the numbers involved and to look at whether the Government are taking adequate resources and support to sponsors. I join her in thanks to the many communities that have already supported refugees. And it's an honour to follow Baroness Monckton of Dallington Forest. Her example as a sponsor of a Ukrainian family and shortly to be another is absolutely to be commended. But I share her concern in the reduction of grants for host families and the consequential loss of hosts. Please, Minister, can this be changed? And Lord Khan spoke powerfully of the strength of welcoming community to ensure that arrivals settle and become part of the community, and I agree with him.
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That's not many over the previous seven years.
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The scheme does have good ideals. The sponsors have to demonstrate capacity to deliver their side of the scheme, which include available funding of at least £9,000, as well as the appropriate accommodation, as well as written consent from the local authority. And once approval was given, they were given the responsibility of supporting a resettled family for at least one year, providing accommodation for two years, and providing support for all
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that they might need from accessing medical services, language tuition, schools, social services, and importantly, helping them to find employment. And absolutely this encourages cohesion. But, my Lords, the low numbers have demonstrated a problem, and that is the capacity of local authorities to be able to play a practical role in this without any extra resources. Let me be blunter than that. Most local authoritiesstruggling to deliver anything beyond their statutory duties, and it's disappointing that yesterday's budget wasn't able to change that. However, even if it had, I suspect that local authorities' capacities to help community sponsors would remain a low priority compared to the statutory duties of children's services, children in care, and adult social services.McMahon has graphically laid out the consequences to local authorities of the government grant to hosts being reduced.Also, my Lords, what's exploded in the last few years is a worrying resurgence of groups on the far right who instead of objecting to government about their concerns for refugee policy have taken to demonstrating, marching and intimidating those refugees themselves. And too often police resources have been needed to intervene to stop these aggressive patterns of behaviours by protesters. And so I believe that's why 12 months ago then Prime Minister Starmer
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published his restoring order and control statement on the government's asylum and returns policy. And along with my party and Lord German, I've been arguing for years for effective, safe and legal routes to asylum for people with real cause, and I'm not sure that we've really got effective safe legal routes at the moment, and I'm interested in understanding how quickly this scheme, if it works, can be developed further from the scheme first introduced a decade ago by the previous government. Because, my Lords, despite what many people want us to believe, there are refugees with a real and understandable fear for their lives in their own countries who seek to come to the UK, often because of direct, that is familial, or indirect, for example the Afghan troops who worked with us in the war in Afghanistan. The 2025 government policy paper said that refugee sponsorship would become the framework for most of the UK government's refugee settlement efforts.The three new routes still include the one route I described earlier, but unless resources are improved, I can't see that increasing very much. Second route is by universities through the study sponsorship route and by companies through the work route, and this too is very welcome. But I am sure I was not alone in absolute despair when our universities had found money and offered some places to prospective students stuck in Gaza last year and this, but who could not leave their small children behind in a war zone. Some of those prospective students also couldn't get their status confirmed in time to start their courses, so the sponsorship opportunities were wasted by the universities through absolutely no fault of theirs or the prospective students. So can I ask the Minister what steps the Foreign Office and the Home Office are taking to improve visa processes for candidates under this scheme, especially universities, where new students have a deadline that cannot be changed. The third route is the UK refugee settlement route, which opened to new referrals recently. And I echo the questions of the right reverend prelate who asked what the numbers in each of these three scheme the government expects over the next few years. When the government says it will set annual limits, but are the appropriate resources available to make sure that once the community sponsors have fulfilled their side of the bargain, the government will have capacity to deliver its side, especially timely approval of visas. The other area that community sponsors, including Reset Communities for Refugees, are asking for is support in clear guidance, appropriate resources, effective safeguarding arrangements, and access to specialist training and support. I look forward to hearing the Minister's response on these. Finally, my Lords, there is one community who I know well and have worked with for some time who have been accessing a safe and legal route to settlement in the UK for many years, but not without some problems. Unfortunately, the government still refers to this group as refugees, but I believe that they are wrong to do so and have said so before. This is the brave opponents of the Chinese regime in Hong King, who already hold British National (Overseas) status, who have fled to the UK because the Conservative government of the day we handed China back the Hong King recognised that they were entitled to be British nationals. Now, since that handover of Hong King to China on the 1st of July 1997, and especially over recent years, when people fleeing Hong King arrive in Britain, they are often treated by Home Office staff as if they are exactly the same as all other refugees without British national status. Please will the Minister ensure that this practice stops. Yes, they may seek help and support if they arrive in distress with no or few possessions, and they will need help with resettlement, but the first and biggest hurdle for them is overcome already. They have a right to come to this country, and it is shocking that their first encounter is immigration staff who don't even know this.My Lords, it's always a pleasure to speak after my colleague Baroness Brinton who is soeloquently laid out the position of those groups of whom she has some direct interest as well. I must declare my interest as a
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issue which of course is very potent in the current current scene. I must also express my interest with asmall i, not a big i, not a big capital i, as the general rapporteur on European migration and asylum policy for the Parliamentary Assembly for the Council of Europe, because I will be reporting on this debate
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have been written not when we turned our backs on the
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But when we step forward to offer sanctuary to those fleeing terror, persecution and war.
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We saw that spirit when our towns and villages
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across hundreds of quiet, compassionate community sponsorship groups who
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open their homes and hearts across
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our country
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Liberal Democrats have long argued that the best of British values is found in our local
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the principle behind the government's now new community
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to ship scheme
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Establishing new and safe and legal routes is a necessary step in the right direction.allowing communities, faith groups
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universities and local organisations
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forward to directly sponsor named individuals, to support students and to welcome displaced workers.is a proven and powerful concept. When local communities have direct ownership, integration
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Refugees do not arrive as numbers on a Home Office spreadsheet. They
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belong
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We on these benches reject outright the cynical, ungenerous claims from the
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People take to dangerous dinghies.
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higher wars. You smash it by opening controlled orderly doors that render the smokeless obsolete.
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Yet while we support this scheme in principle, we must be brutally honest about its practical realities.Compassion without ambition is mere sentiment.
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As it stands, this policy suffers from glaring shortcomings that riskSetting it up to fail.
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And first and foremost, as has been mentioned earlier, is the question of scale.
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UK resettlement scheme
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The government talks of this scheme breaking the cycle of
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three new sponsorship routes.
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10,000 altogether.
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Schemes need to be
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To prevent a scheme that admits a few few hundred people to present a scheme that
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Restoring settlement
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at least pre-pandemic levels of 5,000 people a year.
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not trickling places out in the low hundreds.Secondly, the government is engaged in
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passing the buck to local communities from local authorities
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Means to say they want to relieve local authorities and
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two years and raise
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private capital
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My Lords, in the middle of the worst housing crisis in modern memory, how on earth does the Home
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to outbid the market, to find two-year tenancies without statutory
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to guarantee whether a similar financial support will exist.
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If the state treats volunteer goodwill as an unpaid substitute for proper government,
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will follow and the intake will grind to a halt.
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And thirdly, I'm afraid we cannot ignore the punitive rollback of refugee rights.
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domestic asylum protections the inter
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temporary visas and threatening 20-year delays on resettlement.
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Fourthly, there is a serious danger that by shifting the bulk of resettlement to named study and employer routes
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We risk abandoning the most vulnerable.
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Settlement must never become acorporate recruitment fair
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academic exercise. We cannot ignore the disabled, the elderly,Although those whose lack language skills and overseas connections, those whom theUNHCR identifies as
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immediate peril
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My Lords, we want this sponsorship scheme to work. We want British communities empowered to open their arms, but a genuine safe
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cannot be treated as an afterthought or a PR shield to justify harsher enforcement.
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If the government generally wants to offer sanctuary, it must meet the four tests and the four queries that we have made for
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that we are giving people the compassionate best we can. We as a country are at our best when we are open, generous and fair.Let's not build a scheme of token numbers and shifting burdens.
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And as our immigration moves towards net zero, the numbers coming in and those leaving, we need to be absolutely certain
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Let's build a system that is controlled, compassionate, and truly fit for purpose.
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through community work
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sponsorship. And the honest answer so far, from what I can see, is that we do not know. In response to a written question
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on the 5th of October the noble Lord
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Ministers said that, and I quote, "the government expects the total arrivals across the UKRS"the three new
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sponsorship routes to number in the low hundreds at first.
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My Lords, it is the the words at first that really concerned me.
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at first cover. Is it a few hundred people in the first year or the
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three years. How many people do the Government believe will be able to come to Britain after thisdefined initial phase. Does the Government even know how many people they want to bring into the countryunder these new schemes.Now the noble Lord the Minister must tell noble Lords how the cap will be set and by whom, whether Parliament will
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and what happens if the cap is exceeded. He must also say the numbers will set alongside a commitment to reduce
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overall migration
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Furthermore, in that same answer the Minister said the Home Office works closely with the local authorities that volunteer.participate in the UKRS. Can I take this to mean that local authorities would only
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How's these?refugees if they volunteer to do so.
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And if so, can the noble Lord the Minister rule out any local authority being forced to houseto enter the country under one of the new schemes if they do not wish to do so.
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Or will we see a repeat of the current situation whereby
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So let us look at where it stands. Moore than 41,000 people across
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Channel in small boats in2025. In the 12 months to June this year, around 33,000 did so. The government points tofall and they are right that the number has fallen.But 33,000 people in a year arriving in dinghies in defiance of our law.
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and at the mercy of criminal gangs is not a problem solved.The government's answer to this is to reopen thescheme, but my Lords, to open the front door while the back door is still being forced open sends exactly
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of asylum accommodation at 15.3 billion over 10 years.
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Even after recent reductions, around 16,000 asylum seekers remain in
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Sudan's war and other Home Office
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accommodation. Every one of those places is paid for by the taxpayer.
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Now the government propose additional intakes and they say the sponsors will carry some of the burden.So can the Minister tell us what the total Treasury cost will be?
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What funding will be given to local authorities for school places?
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enormous pressure on small towns
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national problem. Residents in places with one GP surgery and one primary
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and rural communities that never
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Doing so before they have
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My Lords, under these proposals, charities and non-profit organisations will be able to apply to
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come sponsors
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for their housing, integration and employment. There is a significant degree of trust to place in an organization.
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And approved groups will be able to choose the refugees they support and take responsibility
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So, my Lords, let me let me be plain. There have been a number of cases over many years of charities, mosques and NGOs
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that have hosted extremist speakers.
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the way of life
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Or whose trustees or associates have held views hostile to
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The Charity Commission has held
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Excuse me, has have held
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The Charity Commission has opened statutory inquiries into
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specific questions to the noble Lord the Minister. Will every applicant be vetted inagainst Charity Commission records and Security Service advice.
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Will trustees and key personnel be checked?Will there be ongoing monitoring and will approval be withdrawn swiftly if if concerns arise?
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The government ensure that no sponsor
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of any faith or none, is able to exploit a position of influence over refugees, whether to radicalise, to coerce or
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My Lords, we need a real assessment of the numbers in
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In these schemes we need a full cost
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of the policy including the burden
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is under control before the legal routes
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that the small boat crisis
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on local authorities and we need proof.
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about an hour and a half ago and I'm hoping that as I speak it will be published so extremely timely and my Lords
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Safe legal routes with applications will be open to become to lead sponsors fornamed Community Sponsorship and the Refugee Study Routes. This is an important step
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Demonstrating the UK's commitment, as noble Lords have said, to playing a part in the international
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protection system. And let me assure the noble Lord, Lord Davies, and
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I think he's heard me made this point in earlier debates. The Home Secretary said in her conference speech this yearOur purpose is to create that fairness in our immigration system.and to hold this country together at a
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when others seek to divide us. In the restoring order and control statement of November 20The Home Secretary announced the development of three new safe and legal routes toa sanctuary to those genuinely fleeing war and persecution.a named community sponsorship route, a refugee study route and a refugee
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refugees they wish to sponsor and accredited lead sponsors will then
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cases to the Home Office
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individuals will not be able to apply directly.
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HCR
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to assure him all individuals will be subject to the necessary security
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by the UK government. Arrivals under the
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Community sponsorship and refugee study routes are expected from autumn twenty-seven.onwards and the refugee work route is expected to open in spring 202
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It's about the question of eligibility in the application process and
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The guidance for lead sponsors has been published and that will be
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available to noble Lords. My
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the figures of that scheme. And the government has worked with a range of stakeholders, including Canadian and Australian
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the new routes
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Sponsors will be responsible for accommodation and integration support, helping refugees work towards
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Philip raises an important question
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support for sponsors and the Home Office has today published guidance outlining roles and
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responsibilities and will ensure that there is appropriate training and supportHome Office will also look to build a lead sponsor network to
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knowledge and best practice. And then on anticipated numbers, as noble Lords have said, the Government expect the
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boots to number in the hundreds at first growing into the low thousands as levels of
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in illegal migration four a cap will be set annually based on the capacity and willingness
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of communities to welcome refugees. Participation is
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and the arrivals numbers will depend on sponsor demand.
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and capacity. Can I just answer a few of the questions that were raisedby the right hon. Member for in terms ofat capacity. In contrast to previous resettlement schemes, the new routes are
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that communities will be able to
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incorporated into the new route
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The right hon. and noble Friend Lord Khan raised about
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how we build societal infrastructure and
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The Government is committed to supporting community groups, universities and employers to play anrole in refugee sponsorship. As the new routes are implemented, we will
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continue to work closely with
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appropriate training and support, and we'll look to develop Leeds sponsorship network as a
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stakeholders including
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for to share knowledge and good practice. AndWe assure the right reverend Prelate the government will put in place thattraining to deliver that
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practice. And to reassure the right reverend Prelate, lead sponsors, the
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deliver that role. Uh I would also like to pay tribute tothe noble lady Baroness Monckton, I think she's an example to us all. I wish we could
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will put in place that training to
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because the United Kingdom is absolutely united and the government
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the United Kingdom is determined and steadfast in its commitment to
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and its people, and what she described was incredibly moving. The Homes for Ukraine
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has evolved from an initial emergency response into a
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war established program. Nobody expected this war to continue as long as it has.And that's why the government is making changes to funding to ensure that
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scheme remains sustainable for much longer than we had a
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thoughts. So that's so that we can continue to support
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January 2027 as I say to ensure that this
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remains favourable
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And thank you payments will be reimbursed at £100 per month per household.
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Again reflecting a sustainable level of support while continuing
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recognise the generosity of sponsors and hostsI know that won't satisfy the noble lady, but I do believe that what we have to do is show that we are
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Davies and others that we the cap is the you know as part of the fundamentalTo change the UK's protection offer, the annual cap will be set following engagement with local authorities.
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Mazz and other partners and existing community sponsor groupsThe methodology will consider community capacity.
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is an important part of this scheme, and of course sponsors
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willingness to support integration. My Lords, I could respond to the
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talk about the boats. Our programme on immigration, as I say, is to ensurefairness. We have inrecent time
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is also ensuring results. And I think you have to see, and I think noble
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a reduction in the
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maintaining retaining the values that the noble Lady
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have said this, we are absolutely
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Baroness Monckton referred to. We are a country that has acknowledged
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and we should not forget that.
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conclude that, you know, we throughout our history, we
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offered sanctuary to those in genuine need of protection. The
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training, which is really important, whilst maintaining public confidence in the immigration system.
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I hope my answers have resolved. If I've not addressed the specific point, I'm sure we'll be ableProvide to noble Lords and cover them.
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