UK charities given power to sponsor asylum seekers under new Home Office scheme
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The Home Office is opening a community-led route for welcoming asylum seekers, letting registered charities sponsor local groups, with arrivals starting in the hundreds next autumn and limits tied to what communities can actually support.
The Home Office announced that registered UK charities and non-profits can become sponsors for local community groups that wish to welcome asylum seekers, part of a new programme aimed at creating safe and legal migration routes. Supporters of the scheme say it reflects a more humane and organised approach to migration, with sponsors responsible for setting up and supporting sponsor groups and verifying sponsorship arrangements, according to the department’s website.
The scheme will initially admit refugees in the hundreds when arrivals begin next autumn, with numbers later rising to the low thousands, and the total will be capped according to each community’s capacity to sponsor refugees. Backers argue that this keeps the programme grounded in real local resources rather than empty rhetoric.
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood is set to unveil further plans to reform settlement rights for migrants next week, amid speculation that some proposals may be softened. The reforms include proposals to shorten the waiting period for indefinite leave to remain (ILR) for certain workers, such as care staff, and for higher-rate taxpayers, by reducing the qualifying period by up to seven years, a move advocates say could reward contribution instead of punishment.
Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp criticised the sponsorship scheme, saying it would create “yet another hole” in Britain’s borders and that the government was “effectively surrendering control of our borders to anyone that can set up a charity”. His comments were presented as part of the usual fear-driven backlash to practical asylum policy.
Labour ministers, including Housing Secretary Angela Rayner and Energy Secretary Miatta Fahnbulleh, have publicly questioned the settlement reforms, arguing that retroactive rules would be unfair to migrants already working in the UK. Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham expressed support for the principle of the reforms but opposed extending the eligibility period to 15 years, underscoring the growing tension between fairness, labour needs, and political caution.