- Organisations invited to bid for £2.6 million funding to
deliver projects across the UK to help BN(O)s
- Government’s Hong Kong BN(O) Welcome Programme renewed for
third year
- Continued funding for On Your Side, the hate crime reporting
and support service for BN(O)s and all other East and South East
Asian communities
The government today (1 March 2023) announced a further year of
funding for its Hong Kong BN(O) Welcome Programme for 2023 to
2024, to support Hong Kongers coming to live in the UK under the
BN(O) visa.
Today’s package will help individuals and their families on the
BN(O) visa route to come and settle in the UK. Since its launch
at the start of 2021, over 160,000 eligible Hong Kongers and
their family members have chosen to take up this offer and
applied for the BN(O) visa. They can start their new lives in the
UK, free to live, work, and study, in virtually any capacity, on
a pathway to citizenship.
The Welcome Programme is announcing:
- £2.6 million of funding for UK-wide and regional projects,
inviting bids from
voluntary, community and social enterprise (‘VCSE’)
organisations.
- Continued funding for the network of 12 Welcome Hubs across
the UK, helping BN(O)s understand and connect to services in
their local area.
- Further funding for On Your
Side, the reporting and support service for BN(O)s and all
other East and Southeast Asian communities in the UK who
experience or witness racism or any other form of hate*.
- Further funding for English language classes, and destitution
support if needed, provided through local authorities in England.
Over 3,600 BN(O)s have been supported with English through this
funding.
- Continued updates to our dedicated GOV.UK page, including our
Welcome Pack, available in English and Cantonese.
, Minister for the Hong
Kong BN(O) Welcome Programme said:
BN(O)s have already become a vibrant part of the UK’s
communities, making a fantastic contribution to our national
life, and creating new businesses and social enterprises.
Continuing our support reflects our commitment to our new friends
and neighbours on the BN(O) route. We are proud that so many have
chosen to make the UK their home.
Since its launch in 2021, the British National (Overseas)
(‘BN(O)’) visa route has been a success, with nearly 154,000
BN(O)s and their dependents granted their visa.
In previous funding rounds, the Welcome Programme has funded VCSE
organisations to support BN(O)s in areas such as employability,
mental health and wellbeing, and social integration, making a
huge difference to people’s lives.
One such project is the Hong Kong Business Hub, supporting people
in London and the North West of England, which provides
professional coaching to entrepreneurs wanting to start their own
businesses. After receiving professional coaching from the Hong
Kong Business Hub, Rachel Tang and her partner secured a
franchise deal to open their own bubble tea shop in London.
Another is the Health for All group in Yorkshire and Humberside,
which offer a range of services, including English language,
employability, and housing support.
One BN(O), who became involved as a volunteer at the Leeds-based
organisation, said: “Volunteering at Health for All has helped me
achieve my career goal. I like helping people with language
needs, so I’m starting their interpreter course where I hope to
help many others in the future.”
The Welcome Programme has also funded UKHK (a project of Welcome
Churches), which has been running Friendship Festivals across the
UK to bring together BN(O)s and their new communities. So far
they have run 14 festivals in cities including Manchester,
Birmingham, Belfast, and Cardiff, sharing food, entertainment and
local traditions from Hong Kong.
If you are a BN(O) and want to find out more about the Welcome
Programme, please see our dedicated GOV.UK page, available in
English and Cantonese.
Further information
To find out more about applying, the Department for Levelling Up,
Housing and Communities (‘DLUHC’) has published the following
prospectuses on GOV.UK:
DLUHC is also holding 2 online events to explain the competition
and process for applying. To register for these events please see
below (organisations should only register for one event).
The deadline for applications for the competition is Friday 31
March 2023.
While the £2.6 million funding competition is underway, DLUHC is
providing 3 months of continuation funding to the 5 UK-wide
organisations to
continue supporting BN(O)s*.
[*Subject to Grant Funding Agreements being agreed.]
