The UK may be very different to the countries that refugee families arrive from, and so, as much as families are relieved and happy to hear they’re going to be resettled here, the idea can also be a little nerve-wracking too. By enabling families to make contact with the Community Sponsorship group prior to their…
Articles tagged with: Managing expectations
Designing a pathway into employment
Employment provides a fantastic route to integration, helps people to improve their language skills and social networks, and of course provides greater wellbeing and financial independence for individuals. However, refugees can face barriers to obtaining employment which you may need to help them overcome. It is important that both you and the person you support…
Experts by Experience: The village that welcomed a family
“It just felt like something that would be real in the increasingly strange, abstracted, times of lockdown; that it would make a tangible and potentially profound difference to the life-prospects of whoever the refugees were and possibly (selfishly?!) that it might also be a positive thing for me” The group started out with Tom, an…
Good practice when working with interpreters
This resource is designed to help you understand the role of interpreters, and to help you explain this to both them and the refugees you are supporting. It explains what an interpreter should and should not do, and some of the challenges that you and they will face when working with newly arrived refugees, such as maintaining…
Introduction to cultural awareness
Understanding the culture of the refugees your Community Sponsorship Group are supporting is very important in the process of building rapport with the refugee family. Cultural awareness can include so many different areas – from understanding the family’s preferences or taboos to being able to help them celebrate their religious festivals. In this resource we…
Moving house
After arrival, some families might express an interest in moving elsewhere in the UK. There could be many reasons for this; they may have relatives or friends elsewhere, they might wish to live somewhere more or less quiet than where they currently are, or where there is a larger population of people who speak the…
Understanding maternity care in the UK
Community Sponsorship groups have supported many families that continue to grow after being resettled to the UK, with babies being born after resettlement. Although this is often happy news for the family, it can be bittersweet in the absence of their extended family network. You cannot replace family, nor should you try, but you can…
Working with Jobcentres
All adult refugees who are resettled via Community Sponsorship will be entitled to claim benefits, and as a Community Sponsorship Group, it’s recommended that you find out as much as possible in your research to complete your application form. You will be working in the abstract (you won’t know the composition or size of the…
Accessing employment and volunteering opportunities
As part of the application process, you will have thought about how you could assist adults to access volunteer and employment opportunities. You might already have plans on how you will support adults in writing their CV, or preparing for interviews. It can be a challenge to manage the expectations of newcomers in terms of employment and how possible…
Addressing misinformation about life in the UK
Moving to a new country without speaking the language, knowing the house you’ll move to and having only a vague idea of the support you’ll receive can be a terrifying prospect. It is not surprising that many refugees decide to seek information on what to expect in the UK wherever they can. Those who can,…
Making benefits calculations
Both for the sake of your Group and the family you will support, it is important to ensure that the property you find will be financially viable – that the family will be able to pay their rent and the Group won’t have to contribute beyond expected and agreed top up. We developed this resource…
Making loans to the family you support
Many Community Sponsorship Groups have established a process by which they will make an interest-free loan of funds to the family they are supporting. Having additional money to support a specific ambition or to fill a gap can be empowering to a family who have been resettled in the UK, but it’s important to think…
Supporting individuals to stop smoking
When you receive a referral of a family from the Home Office, the Resettlement Registration Form you receive may indicate that a member or members of the family are smokers, or you may discover that they smoke after arrival. Whilst it’s their choice whether they smoke or not, you will need to make the smoker…
Supporting non-Arabic speaking refugees
The start of UK Resettlement Scheme (UKRS) and Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme (ACRS) means that we will see refugees resettled from a broader range of countries and nationalities and will likely speak languages other than Arabic. In this resource we look at what this means for Groups who are writing their applications now and we will…