{"id":193571,"date":"2025-06-18T05:22:11","date_gmt":"2025-06-18T05:22:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/193571\/"},"modified":"2025-06-18T05:22:11","modified_gmt":"2025-06-18T05:22:11","slug":"birmingham-set-to-accept-another-124-afghan-refugees","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/193571\/","title":{"rendered":"Birmingham set to accept another 124 Afghan refugees"},"content":{"rendered":"

The council\u00a0<\/a>said it was willing to accommodate 124 people during 2025\/26 as part of the government\u2019s Afghan Relocation Programme (ARP).<\/p>\n

The programme aims to ensure all eligible Afghan nationals are safely resettled in the UK, with a focus on \u201clong-term sustainability in accommodation and integration\u201d.<\/p>\n

According to the council, eligible individuals face particular hardship as they either furthered British interest in Afghanistan<\/a> in their professional roles or have a documented record of standing up for European values.<\/p>\n

Birmingham has a history of welcoming Afghan refugees and has already successfully supported the successful integration of 148 families.<\/p>\n

The council said it had been done with \u201clittle impact\u201d on public services or finances.<\/p>\n

\"BirminghamBirmingham City Council House. Taken by LDR Alexander Brock. Permission for use for all LDRS partners.<\/p>\n

It said relatively low rates of hate crimes had been reported by resettled families in the city.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs with previous and current resettlement, efforts are made to reduce the risk of community safety issues when accommodation is sourced,\u201d a council report said.<\/p>\n

\u201cMost families enjoy good relationships with their neighbours.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are often stories of food being shared at Eid and people having support from neighbours with urgent issues.\u201d<\/p>\n

The council said it was unlikely that \u201csignificant additional risks\u201d to local tensions would arise but would be closely monitored.<\/p>\n

\"BirminghamBirmingham City Council House. Taken by LDR Alexander Brock. Permission for use all LDRS partners.<\/p>\n

On how families had been previously integrated, the authority said funding from previous schemes was used to support city-wide refugee resettlement and integration programmes beyond Afghan families.<\/p>\n

This enabled new arrivals to acquire the knowledge and skill to be \u2018economically active\u2019 citizens and live in \u2018supportive cohesive communities\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cFunding received under ARP will also be utilised in the same way to support the integration of these families,\u201d the council said.<\/p>\n

\u2018Schools are welcoming\u2019<\/p>\n

When it came to education, the council said Birmingham had a strong Schools of Sanctuary network.<\/p>\n

This sees schools run projects to better understand refugee experiences.<\/p>\n

A spokesman for Birmingham Council said: \u201cFeedback from resettled families indicates most schools are welcoming and are keen to do everything they can to welcome resettled children.”<\/p>\n

An educational grant is also awarded to schools that register refugee children and young people from the Afghan relocation programme.<\/p>\n

This tariff can be spent however the schools see fit to aid the arrival and integration of refugee pupils.<\/p>\n

Ahead of a meeting on Tuesday, June 24, the council\u2019s cabinet was recommended to approve the acceptance of the ARP funding over the course of the next three years to support the 124 refugees during 2025\/2026.<\/p>\n

There was another a recommendation to approve continuation of the programme beyond the end of 2026.<\/p>\n

Cabinet members were also recommended to approve the continued use of private sector housing and Local Authority Housing Fund properties to meet the housing needs of families arriving under the ARP.<\/p>\n

The council said this would help manage the risks associated with additional pressures on housing\/homelessness services.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The council\u00a0said it was willing to accommodate 124 people during 2025\/26 as part of the government\u2019s Afghan Relocation…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":193572,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7820],"tags":[855,748,393,4884,8823,379,12,285,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-193571","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-birmingham","8":"tag-birmingham","9":"tag-britain","10":"tag-england","11":"tag-great-britain","12":"tag-ldrs","13":"tag-local-hubs","14":"tag-news","15":"tag-politics","16":"tag-uk","17":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114702696628183250","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/193571","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=193571"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/193571\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/193572"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=193571"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=193571"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=193571"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}