The funding, which was announced by the Home Office in July
2017, will be used by the civil society organisation Reset
to provide training and support to help communities across
the UK who want to welcome and integrate refugees through
the community sponsorship resettlement initiative.
The intention is that this will help encourage more groups
to come forward to take part in the scheme.
Reset is a new organisation, funded by the Home Office and
philanthropic foundations, which mobilises the skills and
resources of communities, faith groups, businesses and
charities who want to support refugees affected by the
Syrian crisis, as they rebuild their lives in the UK.
Community sponsorship was launched in 2016 and has already
helped resettle 138 refugees who have been welcomed by 24
community sponsor groups across the UK, some of whom have
sponsored more than one refugee family.
Community sponsorship groups including charities, faith
groups and churches are taking part across the UK – from
Cornwall to London, Manchester and Pembrokeshire in Wales.
The sponsors provide housing for the refugee families, as
well as:
- helping them to integrate into life in the UK and
access medical and social services
- arranging English language tuition
- supporting them towards employment and self-sufficiency
Many local authorities have also gone the extra mile in
supporting their local community groups to get involved,
with some great examples of partnership working.
Immigration Minister, said:
The community sponsorship scheme shows that we can all
play a part in, and benefit from, supporting vulnerable
refugees. The success we have had so far would not have
been possible were it not for the dedication, hard work
and compassion displayed by community sponsors.
We want the scheme to go from strength to strength and I
am confident that Reset will help us do just that. We
hope that more communities will get involved in this
rewarding scheme.
Chris Clements, Director of Reset said:
As we formally launch Reset, we’re really excited by the
huge potential there is to increase the number of refugee
families receiving high quality support through community
sponsorship.
By building on the existing goodwill and compassion of
people across the country, we are encouraging communities
to come together to welcome, support and help refugee
families as they rebuild their lives in the UK.
Working with our regional partners across the UK, we’ll
be providing routes to get involved with sponsorship, and
resources and training for groups, organisations and
individuals as we work together to offer practical
solutions to the Syrian refugee crisis.
Community sponsorship is just one way that the UK
government is helping to support refugees. The government
remains on track to meet its commitment of resettling up to
23,000 of the most vulnerable refugees through the
vulnerable person and children’s resettlement schemes by
2020.
Over 11,600 vulnerable refugees had been resettled as of
March this year.
The UK has also now committed £2.71 billion since 2012 to
meet the immediate needs of vulnerable people in Syria and
of refugees in the region. This is the UK’s largest ever
response to a single humanitarian crisis.
