The recent images of thousands of Afghan people, including mothers and children, queuing for days outside Kabul airport in a desperate attempt to be evacuated by UK and US forces and escape the advancing Taliban fighters were shocking to see. Despite many being unsuccessful in their attempt to leave, thousands of Afghan refugees have arrived this year already and the government has committed to resettling 20,000 over the next three years as part of a Home Office programme, dubbed Operation Warm Welcome.
Refugees will be supported by local authorities and partner organisations under two schemes – the Afghan Relocation and Assistance Policy (ARAP) and the Afghan Citizens’ Resettlement Scheme (ACRS) – at a cost to the government of around £300m in its first year.
However, in keeping with the rushed and chaotic nature of the evacuation from Afghanistan, local authorities, charities and organisations supporting families have described “uncertainty” around how the programme is being implemented and what support will be provided locally.
How the schemes work
The ARAP scheme was created in December 2020 as part of Home Secretary Priti Patel’s New Plan for Immigration, launched in April to support “Afghans who worked closely with the British military and UK government”.
It allows refugees and their families evacuated under the scheme to apply for free for indefinite leave to remain in the UK. It is estimated that around 8,000 Afghan refugees have made a claim under this scheme.
Government funding for the scheme includes £12m for the provision of school places, school transport and specialist teachers as well as further funding for up to 300 university scholarships.
Additional NHS funding of £3m will provide Afghans arriving under the ARAP scheme with access to healthcare.
Councils will receive £5m to help refugees meet the costs of renting properties.
The Home Office says that 20,000 people will be resettled under the ACRS over three years, with 5,000 people arriving this year.
The scheme will prioritise those who “have assisted in UK efforts in Afghanistan” and vulnerable groups including women and girls and ethnic minority groups.
Children under the age of 18 with eligible parents will also be accepted with unaccompanied children eligible “in some cases” (see below).
Those resettled under the citizen’s scheme will receive indefinite leave to enter or remain in the UK and will be able to apply for British citizenship after five years in the UK under existing rules.
Local authorities will receive £20,520 per person over three years as well as first-year funding for education and healthcare.
An additional £20m of flexible funding will be provided across local authorities in the current financial year to support additional costs alongside £17m over three years for housing costs.
Initial support
New arrivals under either scheme are initially placed in a quarantine hotel for two weeks before moving to temporary accommodation around the country. But organisations are struggling to support new arrivals due to a lack of clear guidance for local authorities from the Home Office, Dr Razia Shariff, chief executive of Kent Refugee Action Network (KRAN) says. She explains that councils are waiting for clarity on which families they are responsible for providing with homes and schooling and which will be moved on to other areas with very little notice. Initial guidance means that councils are currently providing a “public health role” through the organisation of quarantine for refugees and administering Covid-19 vaccines, she adds.
Dr Lisa Doyle, director of advocacy at the Refugee Council, describes this uncertainty as “deeply concerning”.
She says: “Some councils and public health agencies were not informed by the government that Afghan families had been placed in hotels in their area, and therefore have not put support in place for them.”
Manchester City Council, which was among the first authorities to offer support to Afghan refugees and has already seen more than 1,000 placed in hotels in the city, says there has been a lack of information from the Home Office about what the plans are for these people.
A Manchester City Council spokesperson says the authority is “awaiting confirmation from the government about how refugees will be dispersed across the country”.
“Although Greater Manchester has been clear that the region will play its part, it is not yet clear what resource will be necessary but the understanding is that most people currently in hotels in the region won’t stay here in the long term,” the spokesperson adds.
Local Government Association chairman, councillor Jamie Jamieson, says those leaving hotels after quarantine are being placed in temporary accommodation “until more permanent housing solutions can be found, with councils, local partners and government providing interim wraparound support”.
Finding accommodation
The exact number of pledges made by councils to provide housing is unclear, but “we know most councils have already come forward to offer accommodation”, adds Jamieson.
However, Doyle explains that finding sufficient suitable housing will be a challenge in some areas. “Many Afghan families are large, with several children, so finding houses that are suitable has been difficult for some local authorities,” says Doyle.
“The Refugee Council is supporting Afghan families in Yorkshire and the Humber including in Leeds, Wakefield, Sheffield, Hull and Grimsby. Some of these families are in more settled housing while others are still in temporary hotel accommodation.”
However, concerns have been raised that councils are more likely to pledge to house locally employed staff – those dealt with under the ARAP – over those evacuated as citizens due to more funding provided by the government for medical care and private property rental, as well as greater clarity on the number of arrivals due to be resettled in each area.
Shariff says: “A disparity does seem to be emerging between the way Armed Forces and British services workers are being treated compared with those who arrive as citizens.”
Birmingham City Council has agreed to support interpreters and their families for 12 months including providing housing in “properties procured via the private rented sector”, education, English lessons and medical benefits such as GP appointments and referrals.
The government has set up a housing portal to enable members of the public, charities and organisations to sign up to support families arriving in the UK from Afghanistan. The Afghanistan housing portal allows property owners or organisations to register homes that may be available for at least 12 months, either on a commercial or charitable basis, for use by families as part of resettlement efforts.
Potential foster carers are also being encouraged to register through a separate portal to find out if their local authority is in need of support.
The same portal can also be used by those able to supply basic supplies to families or make financial donations.
School places
Under the ARAP scheme, Birmingham City Council states that school places are, wherever possible, organised prior to arrival with families supported to communicate with and visit schools, and to arrange travel and uniforms.
However, KRAN’s Shariff adds that uncertainty around the areas where some families, particularly those on the ACRS, will ultimately be placed makes securing placements “challenging” and questions whether it “would be best for the time being for children to be educated in a community setting”, like a community centre.
“They have been through a lot of trauma and it might be that it isn’t the right thing to go straight into mainstream school,” she adds.
Doyle agrees that “having the right support in place for newly arrived refugee children is essential” including access to education and counselling for trauma and urgent mental health issues as well as access to basics like nappies and toys.
Refugee Support Team
Kensington and Chelsea Council has launched a Refugee Support Team providing assistance to 400 people in hotels in the borough.
Councillor Elizabeth Campbell said: “On top of offering permanent homes, councils across London are now stepping in to help people straight away on the ground. People need access to things we often take for granted, such as medication, finances, food, and educational services.”
Doyle says such local initiatives are welcome but there is significant variation in levels of support across regions and echoes the calls of local authority leaders and campaigners for a co-ordinated national response by the Home Office.
“These are the types of support that are really key but unfortunately we are concerned that they have not been put in place enough when it comes to those who have recently arrived from Afghanistan,” she says.
In light of the traumatic way Afghan children left their home country, they will need the support of councils to help them settle in the UK and build a new life.
IMPACT OF AFGHAN SCHEMES ON COUNCIL ASYLUM DUTIES
Home Office guidance on the Afghan Citizens’ Resettlement Scheme states that “unaccompanied children may be offered resettlement where it is determined that resettlement to the UK is in the child’s best interest, and they have been identified as eligible”.
However, according to the Association of Directors of Children’s Services, “very few” unaccompanied asylum-seeking children (UASC) have so-far arrived in the UK as part of evacuations from Afghanistan, adding that it is unlikely that the resettlement programme will have an impact on local authorities struggling to “safely” care for large numbers of UASC.
Both Kent and Croydon councils say they are in ongoing discussions with the government over the numbers of UASC in their care which is above the Home Office’s recommended level of 0.07 per cent of a local authority’s care-experienced population.
Both councils are among those calling for the National Transfer Scheme – a voluntary rota scheme designed to disperse UASC across England – to be made compulsory.
Kent resumed taking responsibility for UASC in early September after saying it could no longer “safely” accept children arriving into Dover in June – just 10 months after making the same announcement in August 2020.
A Croydon Council spokesperson says it received a £2.3m “one-off payment to address this year’s financial pressures around the cost of looking after unaccompanied asylum-seeking children in the borough” after threatening to stop taking on UASC arriving in the area.
According to most recent figures provided by the Home Office, 1,054 children have been placed through the National Transfer Scheme between its creation in 2016 and June 2020.
