‘Named community sponsorship puts control and compassion at the heart of refugee resettlement’

Community sponsorship is set to become the main way we resettle refugees in the UK. That commitment, made by the Home Secretary last November, will put local people at the heart of resettling refugees in the UK.

On Monday, MPs, representatives of civil society, sponsored refugees and their hosts gathered to support the creation of an ambitious “named community sponsorship” scheme, which empowers local communities to identify refugees from abroad to come to the UK, with the support of the Government. 

This may sound like a marked departure from how our current asylum system works. But public consent and continued support for protection of refugees depends on placing the control over who comes to this country firmly in the hands of local communities. And it builds on successful sponsorship schemes led by communities across the UK in recent years.

Under the Homes for Ukraine scheme, over 200,000 Ukrainians have been welcomed by UK communities; since 2016, small sponsorship groups from Bristol, to Fife, the Peak District and beyond, have supported refugees from around the world to become part of their communities.

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Named sponsorship builds integration precisely because communities are active partners from the outset. Sponsored refugees are welcomed with the consent of local communities. LGBT groups can sponsor LGBT refugees escaping persecution; sports groups can sponsor refugee athletes; Church groups can sponsor those fleeing due to their religion. And the evidence shows that when local people are involved in welcoming newcomers – helping to secure housing, navigate services, and build early social connections they learn local languages more quickly; move into employment sooner; and become part of community life in ways that benefit everyone.

At Monday’s event, we heard from former Canadian Senator Ratna Omidvar about the positive impact that sponsorship has had on Canada, where it has been in operation at scale for almost fifty years, commands cross-party political support, and is the primary means of refugee resettlement – just as the Home Secretary wants it to become in the UK. She told us: 

“All the evidence shows that private, sponsored refugees do better. They become citizens quicker, and they integrate better… This is something that the government will do with the people, with shared goals and shared accountability.”

We also heard from the Bishop of Chelmsford that Church communities stand ready to play a role in sponsoring refugees in Britain, and from Labour MP and Chair of the Education Select Committee Helen Hayes about the success of sponsorship in her South London constituency.

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Named sponsorship combines control with compassion. It allows connections between those in need with communities who have the capacity and desire to support them. It is a proven way to combine community leadership with safe, managed pathways for protection – complementing the UK’s existing resettlement routes and helping extend welcome to more people in need. But realising the potential of named sponsorship requires Government and civil society to work hand in hand. The Home Secretary’s commitment to new safe and legal routes for refugees, via named sponsorship, is welcome but we now need a plan that establishes how the scheme will operate, the timeline for getting it up and running, and which fully devolves choice to communities.

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The UK has a proud history of offering protection to those in need. The Home Secretary has restated the Government’s commitment to providing sanctuary to those in danger, while tackling the chaos of the current asylum system that has left people stuck in limbo for months, if not years, at great cost to local communities and taxpayers.

This week, we demonstrated that communities stand ready to welcome refugees and I encourage MPs from all parties to express their commitment to an ambitious, fair, and controlled means of refugee resettlement that strengthens communities and supports those in need. Named community sponsorship can showcase the best of Britain: civic pride, generosity and compassion.

But it cannot do any of that on words alone. The Home Secretary must now publish a clear plan for the implementation of a serious sponsorship scheme, with timelines, resources and working hand in hand with civil society. 

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