Resettlement through Community Sponsorship

Funding opportunity. The Home Office plans to continue funding Community Sponsorship of Refugees. The intention is to award a grant agreement for 12 months (2025/2026) with an option to extend for a further 2 years (2026/28), subject to funding. We are seeking Expressions of Interest (EOI) to gauge interest in the opportunity. At this initial stage we ask that you confirm your EOI and that you are capable of either all or parts of the following delivery.

Please note this EOI is for information gathering purposes only and is in no way an official bid or application for this opportunity.

The Community Sponsorship scheme was launched on 19 July 2016. The scheme allows community groups, charities and faith groups to support resettled refugees directly. The scheme is open-ended and continues to play an important part of the UK’s resettlement offer with an increasing percentage of resettled refugees, against the UK Resettlement Scheme (UKRS) being welcomed through this route. The scheme has also been extended to allow sponsors groups to support Afghan families through the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme (ACRS) pathway. Community sponsorship has had a positive impact on the lives of refugees resettled in the UK, and the inspiring communities that support them. Evidence also shows that it delivers better early integration outcomes, including on employment.

The purpose of the Funding is three-fold:

• to support community groups to deliver high quality resettlement support and training for resettled refugees through Community Sponsorship, leading to positive outcomes for both resettled refugees and local communities;

• to grow the existing Community Sponsorship scheme, enabling community groups to sponsor more resettled refugees;

• to develop and implement a sustainable civil society led approach to delivering Community Sponsorship that engages the ‘whole of society’. The first 12 months award will be awarded for LOT 1 as follows.

LOT 1- Provide training which addresses the needs of groups and relevant stakeholders - Support community groups to prepare and deliver high-quality resettlement and integration support for resettled refugees throughout their Community Sponsorship journey.- Support the evaluation of the Community Sponsorship scheme to inform a better understanding of what works and why. There is a potential award for Lot 2 for the next 2 and 3 years: 

LOT 2 - Help increase the numbers and diversity of Community Sponsorship groups and catalyse the growth of the scheme. - Connect people and organisations and cultivate opportunities for partnering with others nationally and internationally to increase awareness, participation, and growth of Community Sponsorship schemes.- Lot 2 will include all elements outlined in Lot 1 above.