Plan for dioceses to sponsor refugees

DIOCESES ARE to be encouraged to provide thousands of pounds to support Syrian refugee families under a new private sponsorship scheme which the Government favours to handle the 20,000 Syrian refugees being admitted to the UK.

The scheme is based on a process that has already seen 250,000 people settled in Canada. Ministers have said that community groups, charities, the private and voluntary sectors, and even individuals will be able to apply to bring in a refugee known to them or to take on a referred refugee.

In both cases, if successful, the sponsor would be expected to support that person financially and in other ways for 12 months. The predicted cost is up to £12,000 for an individual and up to £20,000 for a family.

“The Government is serious about collaborative working with other organisations,” said Mark Wiggin, Salford Diocese’s refugee help coordinator, after a briefing on talks between the bishop with responsibility for migrants, Patrick Lynch, and Richard Harrington, the Minister for Syrian Refugees.

“This idea is going to be very much encouraged for take-up by the dioceses. It would be up to each diocese to decide what they do – do they want to sponsor, or do they want to organise groups within their diocese to do it?”

But Mr Wiggin said it is not yet clear exactly what the sponsors’ money will cover or what happens after the 12-month sponsorship expires. “It’s not a case of finding a room or a shared building; it’s [finding] a house – and they are going to need access to education, health, and long-term things like employment,” he said.

This week Caritas Westminster organised a refugee volunteer evening, featuring stalls from charities and a panel discussion on working with refugees and asylum seekers, in London.