Resettling of refugees in Ashfield delayed due to coronavirus pandemic

However, hundreds of UK councils, including Ashfield District Council, did not welcome any refugees in the first nine months of 2020, as new analysis reveals the impact the Covid pandemic has had on the UK’s resettlement programme.

Coun Tom Hollis, cabinet member for housing, said: “In respect of the families supported under the Syrian Vulnerable Persons Resettlement Scheme the pandemic has put a halt on any families needing to be accommodated locally.

“That said, Ashfield District Council has continued to provide assistance during the pandemic. We have changed methods of service delivery, reducing face to face visits and having Zoom meetings for example, but that aside it has been very much business as normal and the families previously resettled are doing well.”

The UK had aimed to offer 5,000 refugees a home in 2020-21, but with resettlements temporarily paused after the outbreak of the pandemic, charity Refugee Action says just a fraction of that number will be given sanctuary by the end of March.

Home Office figures show just 733 refugees were welcomed to the UK between January and March last year, before settlements were halted, already a drop of 38 per cent on the 1,184 rehomed in the same period in 2019.

The vast majority of UK councils, 73 per cent, did not see any arrivals during that time.

With the most recent figures revealing no refugees found a new home in the UK between March and September, that means overall settlements to that point in 2020 were down by 81 per cent compared to 2019.

Refugee Action says the UK must restart a long-term resettlement programme for refugees.

Chief executive Stephen Hale said: “This Government’s claim to support refugee resettlement is tragically not borne out by their actions. They have agreed to welcome just 232 vulnerable people of the 5,000 promised sanctuary in 2020-21.

“Instead of starting new lives here, people are left in limbo, living in poverty and danger in refugee camps and near war zones."

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