Named Community Sponsorship: safe and legal routes for refugees

Communities across the UK have a proud history of providing sanctuary to those
feeling conflict and persecution in other countries. Community sponsorship schemes
empower local people to help refugee families find safe homes and rebuild their lives
in communities across the UK.

“I think the community definitely feels richer because of the families being here - they
add something with their different cultures.” - Community Sponsor

In November 2025, Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood announced the creation of
new, safe and legal routes for refugees to resettle in the UK. These routes will make
named community sponsorship the primary means by which refugees are resettled
in the UK, with voluntary and community organisations given greater involvement in
welcoming and supporting them.

Communities will be able to identify refugees from abroad that they would like to
sponsor to come to the UK. Communities will take on responsibility for things like
securing housing, access to local services, and local English-language tuition, while
the Government maintains oversight and responsibility for vetting refugees before
they arrive.

“…we must now build an asylum system for the world as it is—one that restores
order and control, that opens safe and legal routes to those fleeing danger across
the world, and that sustains our commitment to providing refuge for this generation,
and those to come.” - Shabana Mahmood, Home Secretary, 17 th November 2025

Named community sponsorship hands control to local communities over the
resettlement of refugees in their area. It is a proven mechanism that operates at a
large scale in other countries strengthening communities and supporting refugees’
integration. Research from the University of Birmingham found that Community
Sponsorship contributes to more outward-looking, open and inclusive communities,
and more positive attitudes towards refugees.

Communities have the power to create a more welcoming society

Since 2016, over 350 communities across the UK have welcomed more than 600
refugees through the Community Sponsorship scheme, as well as many thousands
more under the Homes for Ukraine scheme that was established following Russia’s
invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

Named sponsorship builds on proven models. In Canada, over 368,000 refugees
have successfully integrated through private sponsorship since 1979, and the United
States received 3 million applications to sponsor vulnerable migrants between 2022-
24.

What needs to happen now?

Communities across the UK stand ready to play their part in upholding the UK’s
proud tradition of providing sanctuary to those in need. The Government should

establish and implement a fully operational Named Community Sponsorship route by
the end of 2026, giving local communities, civil society, employers and universities
the power to choose who to welcome to the UK.

This approach would deliver exactly what the Home Secretary has called for: a
controlled, capped and community-led route that restores confidence in the asylum
system while enabling people fleeing danger to reach safety through safe and legal
pathways.

Communities up and down the country are ready and eager to help welcome
refugees and support their integration. Named community sponsorship would give
them the ability to identify and support individuals in need of protection, while the
Government maintains responsibility for security checks and oversight.
To make this a reality, the Government must now set out the details of how these
routes will work in practice — including how many people communities will be able to
sponsor, who will be eligible, how the organisations involved will be resourced, and
when the new routes will become operational.

Without this clarity, safe and legal routes risk remaining an aspiration rather than a
functioning part of the UK’s asylum system. If the Government is serious about
reform, community sponsorship must be placed at the heart of a credible,
compassionate and workable approach.