Afghans brought to the UK will be given nine months to find their own accommodation, defence secretary announces. Resettlement schemes for Afghans to come to the UK will be merged into one and will eventually be closed down, the government has announced.
Defence secretary John Healey has said that the new single pathway will “ensure value for money for the taxpayer”. In a statement to MPs, Mr Healey added that providing safety to these Afghans “cannot be an endless process”, adding: “The government intends to reach a position where the UK Afghan resettlement schemes can be closed”.
No time frame was given for when the schemes will be closed. Mr Healey also gave no details about how an Afghan refugee would qualify for the new “single pipeline for Afghan resettlement”, or how they would apply for it. At the moment there are two main pathways for Afghans to be brought to safety in the UK, one operated by the Ministry of Defence and one by the Home Office and Foreign Office.
The MoD’s Afghan Relocations and Assistance Police (Arap) scheme is for those Afghans who served alongside British forces and has brought 3,662 people to the UK so far this year. The Home Office scheme, called Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme (ACRS), is for those Afghans deemed vulnerable or at risk - with 1,917 people coming to the UK so far this year.
Overall the numbers of people accepted through Afghan resettlement schemes has been rising over the past year - with 1,083 grants made in the year up to September 2023, compared with 9,048 grants in the year up to September 2024. This represents a 735 per cent increase.
