2025 issue 2: Feb–Apr

The Newsflash is a regular round up of publications, information, events, funding and jobs relating to asylum seekers, refugees and migrant workers for anyone who wants to keep up to date with the latest developments.

The Newsflash is produced by Local Government East – Strategic Migration Partnership.

1. Asylum Seekers and Refugees – including refugee resettlement

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1.1

Ukraine Schemes

Ukraine Permission Extension Scheme

On 10 March 2025, the Ukraine Permission Extension Scheme guidance for Ukrainians was updated with information about reusing biometrics as part of an application.

For Ukrainian individuals who have been given permission to be in the UK under one of the Ukraine Schemes, they are now able to apply for a further 18 months permission to stay. The scheme opened to applications on 04 February 2025, when the previous Ukraine Extension Scheme closed.

If you’re a Ukrainian national, or the family member of a Ukrainian national, and are living in the UK with existing permission on one of the Ukraine schemes, you may be eligible to apply for UPE to continue living in the UK for up to a further 18 months. It is free to apply. If your application is successful, you will be able to continue to live, work and study in the UK and access public funds.

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1.2

Afghan Resettlement Programme: Policy Guidance

This guidance sets out how existing and new Afghan arrivals will be managed under the new Afghan Resettlement Programme (ARP). The ARP was announced on 18 December 2024 by the Ministry of Defence (MOD) and sets out the Government’s position on its approach to Afghan resettlement from 1 March 2025 until further notice.

The new programme brings together the below 2 schemes to form one consolidated scheme under ARP:

• the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy
• the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme

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1.3

Asylum Dispersal Grant: Funding Instruction 2025/26

This Funding Instruction is for Local Authorities who are eligible for the Asylum Grant 2025-2026. The grant provides funding to support local authorities with the costs of supporting asylum seekers in their areas.

It will provide funding to authorities who accommodate asylum seekers in Dispersal Accommodation (DA), Overflow Dispersal Accommodation (ODA), Initial Accommodation (IA) and Contingency Accommodation (CA). There is also provision of payment for asylum seekers across medium sites and LA-led accommodation through ongoing pilots.

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1.4

Chartered Institute of Housing – Spring 2025 Newsletter

The latest newsletter from the CIH is now available and covers many subjects, including:

• Asylum accommodation and local connection: it’s complicated!
• New refugees need help to find secure housing – London’s asylum move-on liaison officers are a step in the right direction
• Specialist supported housing: A safety net for separated migrant children
• Building futures: Supporting refugee and asylum-seeking families to thrive
• Population growth now depends upon migration – how does this affect housing demand?

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1.5

Source of asylum claims in 2024 – new data released

The Home Office have released new experimental data on the routes individuals used to travel to the UK before claiming asylum in 2024.

This release uses internally matched immigration system data, relating to asylum seekers’ method of arrival. The data is provisional and taken from live operational systems. These are ‘Official Statistics in Development’ and the estimates may be revised as further work on the analysis develops.

More can be read about this new data by following this link.

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1.6

Evaluation of AI trials in the asylum decision making process

This report summarises the evaluation findings from the pilots of Asylum Case Summarisation and the Asylum Policy Search tools.

Asylum decision-makers spend a substantial amount of time analysing asylum interview transcripts and finding country policy information. As part of a wider asylum system programme of change, the Home Office trialled 2 tools to help speed up these processes.

The Asylum Case Summarisation tool uses artificial intelligence (AI) to summarise asylum interview transcripts, and the Asylum Policy Search tool is an AI search assistant that finds and summarises country policy information. Small-scale pilots were conducted and evaluated between May and December 2024 to explore the feasibility, accuracy, and impact of the tools. This report summarises the approach to the evaluation of these tools and the key findings that emerged.

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1.7

National Audit Office: The Home Office’s asylum accommodation contracts

The Home Office is responsible for asylum and protection in the UK, including supplying accommodation for people seeking asylum who would otherwise be destitute. The Home Office tries to source houses or flats for most of its accommodation, but when these are not available it uses hotels as a contingency measure. The work is carried out by three suppliers who currently identify and supply accommodation on behalf of the Home Office, via seven regional contracts known as the Asylum Accommodation and Support Contracts (AASCs). An additional national contract is in place for a helpline and support service (AIRE – Advice, Issue Reporting and Eligibility).

This briefing has been prepared for the Home Affairs Committee as part of its inquiry into the delivery of asylum accommodation. It covers the main contracts for asylum accommodation and support and describes the Home Office’s approach to accommodating people seeking asylum and the services provided by the contracts; the performance of the contracts and their profitability; as well as the Home Office’s oversight of the contracts.

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1.8

Safe and Secure Routes: Refugee Visa-to-Travel Proposal

PCS (Public and Commercial Services Union) and Care4Calais have released a new report to lobby politicians to provide a humanitarian alternative to small boats crossings. The report proposes the introduction of a Ukrainian-style visa system that would prevent deaths in the English Channel and destroy people smuggling gangs.

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1.9

Returns from the UK and illegal working activity since July 2024

For the latest statistical release covering returns from the UK and illegal working activity since 05 July 2024, please go to this page on the government website.

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1.10

How to email the Asylum Central Communications Hub

The Government have produced some guidance  on the information required when emailing the Asylum Central Communications Hub. This is to ensure the correct information is being provided and queries can be answered.

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1.11

Improving Education Outcomes for Displaced 16–19-year-olds in Oxfordshire: Learning Report

Oxfordshire Migration Partnership commissioned COMPAS (the University of Oxford’s Centre on Migration, Policy and Society) to undertake research to explore the profile and educational needs of 16–19-year-olds arriving in Oxfordshire on humanitarian visa pathways from Afghanistan, Hong Kong and Ukraine.

As set out in this report, the research identified a number of challenges for older teenagers, arriving post-compulsory school age with accessing education, employment or training. As a result, the local authority has created a bespoke service to provide education and careers information, advice and guidance to newly arrived people aged 16-19.

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1.12

Lost Childhoods: The Consequences of Flawed Age Assessments at the UK Border

This new report, published in March 2025 by the Refugee and Migrant Children’s Consortium, highlights serious flaws in the UK’s age assessment process for unaccompanied asylum-seeking children (UASC). It reveals that hundreds of children were wrongly classified as adults by the Home Office, leading to their placement in unsafe adult accommodation or detention.

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1.13

Make or break: Reflections on further education enrolment for refugee and asylum-seeking learners

Refugee Education UK (REUK) have published this briefing, which presents practitioner-based insights from REUK’s experience of supporting young people from refugee and asylum-seeking backgrounds to enrol in further education in September and October 2024. It highlights some of the barriers and challenges facing young sanctuary seekers in enrolling in further education institutions and identifies examples of good practice.

This briefing will be of particular interest to those working with young people and may help when making applications to further education institutions as the new academic year approaches.

2. Migration

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2.1

Hong Kong BN(O)s

The national charity Barnardo’s provides a Helpline to support HK BN(O)s settling in the UK. The Helpline offers emotional support, advice and signposting as well as 8 sessions of therapy. Therapy is open to children and adults. The team also delivers monthly webinars, peer support sessions and a virtual youth space. This is the fourth year of funding from MHCLG, with service delivery until 30 September 2025.

Further details of other services offered can also be found here.

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2.2

Displaced International Workers – Support available in Essex, Suffolk and Hertfordshire

Displaced International Workers (DIWs) (also known as DIRs – Displaced International Recruits) are individuals who were sponsored by an employer from the care sector to come to the UK, whose sponsors have subsequently had their licences revoked. As a result, the individual is now out of work and without a legitimate visa. The Home Office has provided funding to try to support these individuals with next steps, which could include seeking a new role or returning to their home country. For more information on how to access support to find alternative employment with another sponsor providing care services in Essex (incl. Southend and Thurrock), Hertfordshire and Suffolk, please refer to the Displaced International Workers – Essex, Southend, Thurrock, Hertfordshire and Suffolk Support page.

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2.3

Modern slavery: how to identify and support victims

The Home Office have published statutory guidance on modern slavery and how to identify and support victims of modern slavery. The guidance describes the signs that someone may be a victim, the support available to them, and the process for determining whether someone is a victim of such activities.

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2.4

Modern slavery training: resource page

Modern slavery includes slavery, servitude, forced and compulsory labour and human trafficking.

The Home Office has produced a resource page designed to share examples of training products available to public sector professionals and other individuals that might come across victims to help raise awareness, better spot the signs and increase confidence in reporting modern slavery when potential cases are encountered.

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2.5

Crackdown on illegal working and rogue employers in ‘gig economy’

At the end of March 2025, the Government introduced new laws for companies hiring people in the ‘gig economy’ and for workers on zero-hours contracts. For the first time, employment checks will be extended to cover sectors such as construction, food delivery, beauty salons and courier services.

Read the Home Office news release for further information, which covers new requirements  companies will be expected to undertake to confirm an individual’s immigration status and allow them to work legally in the UK.

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2.6

GP registration transfer cards

Accessing healthcare can be a challenge for vulnerable migrants in temporary accommodation. Language and communication barriers can also increase access issues. Healthcare access can also be disrupted where people are relocated at short notice.

GP registration transfer cards aim to improve continuity of care and avoid duplication by supporting newly arrived individuals to re-register (or register if a first registration) as soon as possible after they move and are available in more than 30 languages.

For more information, along with other resources for vulnerable migrants, please visit this page.

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2.7

ESOL

ESOL Hub Pilot Launches in Suffolk

We’re excited to share that our ESOL Hub pilot in Suffolk is now underway. The hub aims to improve access to ESOL in rural areas by coordinating provision across providers, identifying gaps, and delivering ESOL in a central location where provision is currently limited.

Over the coming weeks, we’ll be engaging with providers and Suffolk County Council to understand what’s already in place, what’s working, and where support is most needed. We’re also beginning to collect high-level data on learner numbers, locations, and hours of provision to help us map where the greatest need lies.

If your organisation provides ESOL in Suffolk or nearby areas, or if you’d like to share ideas on how the hub can best support learners and providers, please get in touch with the Hub Coordinator: alona.kotova@localgoveasteng.co.uk.

ESOL Teacher Training – Continued Support

While the main phase of our CELTA teacher training has ended, we continue to support graduates into teaching roles across the region. If your organisation is recruiting, feel free to get in touch at Yasser.rezvani@localgoveasteng.co.uk

3. Events and Training

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3.1

Refugee Week 16 – 22 June 2025

Refugee Week is the world’s largest arts & cultural festival celebrating the contributions, creativity and resilience of refugees and people seeking sanctuary.

Established in 1998 in the UK, Refugee Week takes place every year around World Refugee Day (20 June) and has since grown into a global movement. The theme for this year’s week is ‘Community as a Superpower’.

For further details and information, including resources, can be found at the Refugee Week website.

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3.2

Reset UK

Reset UK is an organisation set up in 2018 to coordinate the growth of Community Sponsorship across the UK. To date, they have supported over 300 community groups and welcomed over 1000 refugees into the UK.

As well as working with local authorities and other organisations to support volunteers in making community-led welcome happen, Reset UK offer training and support for volunteers across the UK including, an ‘introduction to community sponsorship’, ‘recruiting and welcoming volunteers to your community sponsorship group’, ‘safeguarding essentials’, among others.

Further information on the training they offer can be found on their website.

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3.3

‘Learn immigration law: Immigration Advice Authority (IAA) Level 1’ course

Free Movement are offering the above training as an online course starting on 16 June 2025.

The four-week course is suitable for individuals preparing for the IAA (Immigration Advice Authority) Level 1 exam, those who are working for a charity and wanting to gain knowledge on the system or transitioning into immigration law from another area.

Further information can be found here.

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3.4

Norwich Refugee Week events

In preparation for their comedy night, Refugee Week Norwich are offering a 6-week programme of free to join comedy workshops, commencing 20 May, 13:00-15:00.

To find out more, contact Ruth on +447356218234 or NorwichComedyProject@gmail.com,

More details about the events taking place in Norwich during Refugee Week (16-22 June 20250 can be found here.

4. Funding

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There are no current funding opportunities.

5. Jobs

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5.1

Suffolk Refugee Support – Health & Sports Activities Coordinator

SRS are looking to recruit a Health & Sports Activities Coordinator to work across their client groups to encourage people to engage in health, fitness and sports activities.

Hours: 21 hours per week

Salary: £17,748 (pro rata from £29,580 FTE)

Deadline: Tuesday 3rd June at 12 noon

Interview date: Tuesday 10th June

More information and the recruitment pack can be found here.

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5.2

Mind-Hertfordshire Network – Flourish Team Leader

The Flourish service in Hertfordshire provides advice, information, onward referral and holistic support to refugees and asylum seekers who are experiencing mental ill health or need support with their mental wellbeing or daily challenges.

Flourish is currently seeking a team leader to coordinate and run the service.

Hours: 37.5 hours per week

Salary: £30,000-£32,000

Deadline: Ongoing until role is filled

Interview date: Held on a rolling basis

Full details of the vacancy can be found here.