What risks are there in Community Sponsorship?
It’s so important to be upfront about the risks associated with Community Sponsorship. When you are considering your permission process, this is something you will want to take into account.
It’s important to keep in mind that of the many hundreds of refugees welcomed by Community Sponsorship Groups in the UK, a relationship breakdown between group and family is extremely uncommon. The outcomes for both the resettled refugees and for the community groups that support them have been overwhelmingly successful and positive. In a very small minority of cases (2%), the Local Authority has assumed the responsibility for supporting resettled refugees.
Whilst this is not exhaustive, you can find below an outline of some of the risks and the mitigation factors that are built into the programme.
Risk Identified | Mitigating factor |
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Community Sponsorship Group have breakdown of relationship with family | Rigorous application and security checking process from the Home Office Group is headed up by a Lead Sponsor – a charity who take on the responsibility for resettlement Ongoing post-arrival support from Reset and the Home Office Breakdowns of this type are extremely uncommon If, for any reason, a Sponsor Group is unable to fulfil its obligations, the local authority will be reimbursed for the support costs during years 1 and 2.
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Group not prepared for resettling a family | Groups attend required training Ongoing advice service from Reset Community Sponsorship is a UK wide movement with connections between Groups and those providing support Rigorous assessment of the application by the Home Office
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Community Sponsorship Groups use housing stock the LA could access | |
The family allocated to the Group will not be suitable | |
The resettled family will place extra demand on local authority funding | Local Authorities will be able to claim educational costs for the families supported CCGs and Health Boards will be able to claim for healthcare provision If the Local Authority incurs social care costs they are able to make a claim for exceptional funds from the Home Office
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The Local Authority will be expected to support the family after year 2 | Outside of those with additional support needs, this is extremely rare. In the occurrence of ongoing support being required, the Home Office will consider making the Local Authority tariff available to the Local Authority for years 3-5
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The Local Authority will be expected to find housing for the family after 2 years | |
Unrealistic expectations will be created for what the Local Authority can deliver | You will work with the Group to be clear what you can assist with The Sponsor Agreement between the Group and the Home Office sits with a charity – a Lead Sponsor – not the Local Authority, and the obligation for successful resettlement sits with them
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Community Sponsorship will run counter to our own resettlement programme | Local Authorities have worked with Community Sponsorship Groups to outline the support the Group offer and how to address this, in order to avoid creating a ‘two-tier’ system of resettlement. You might ask the Group to not pay a housing top up, or to explain to resettled families why this programme is different. Resettlement is different between Local Authorities and across the UK – this is ok, and expectations will need to be managed anyway Some Groups provide support to families resettled by the Local Authority, as well as the family they are supporting
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There may be political opposition to resettlement locally | |
We haven’t done any form of refugee resettlement | |
