Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has unveiled plans for businesses, universities, and community organisations to sponsor refugees arriving in Britain under a new capped scheme.
The Home Office said it would introduce new “capped safe and legal” routes from later this year, modelled partly on Canada’s private sponsorship system, which has resettled almost 400,000 refugees since 1979.
Trusted organisations including universities, churches, community groups, and eventually employers would help refugees find housing, work, and support after arrival in the UK.
The announcement comes as Mahmood prepares to bring forward an immigration bill next week containing tougher rules on human rights and modern slavery claims.
The bill includes measures aimed at blocking what ministers describe as “vexatious” applications, putting the legislation on course for resistance from parts of the Labour Party.
Mahmood said the reforms would protect “genuine refugees” while closing loopholes that had been “too often abused” by those seeking to exploit the existing system.
“Britain has always offered sanctuary to those fleeing war and persecution,” she said. “But this system only survives if the public trusts that it is fair, controlled, and not open to abuse.”
Applications for a university sponsorship route are due to open later this year, with first arrivals expected in 2027, while a separate refugee work route allowing employers to sponsor refugees is expected to open the following year.
The Home Office has not confirmed how many people will be allowed to arrive under the new schemes, but said numbers would be capped and start from a low base before eventually operating at a higher capacity than the existing UK Resettlement Scheme.
The department said it would work with the UN refugee agency to establish eligibility, with all applicants subject to background checks before arrival in the country.
The bill is also expected to tighten the definition of family life in immigration claims and restrict modern slavery protections for foreign nationals who have received custodial sentences.
The Home Office insisted Britain’s membership of the European Convention on Human Rights remained “firmly in our national interest” but said the application of human rights law needed to be narrowed going forward.
Conservative shadow home secretary Chris Philp said the plan would “make no difference” to small boat crossings, while Reform UK said it would reverse the sponsorship scheme if elected to government.
The Liberal Democrats described the new route as a “step in the right direction” but said more work was needed to reduce the number of dangerous crossings happening in the Channel.
The Community Sponsorship Alliance urged ministers not to make the scheme too narrow, with deputy chair Leonie Ansems De Vries warning against eligibility rules that “stifle the very public goodwill that makes sponsorship work.”
The announcement lands amid internal tensions after Mahmood clashed with immigration minister Mike Tapp over an unauthorised article arguing foreign care workers should be exempt from proposed visa changes.
Mahmood asked Sir Keir Starmer to sack Tapp, but Downing Street declined, saying the minister had instead been reminded of his obligations under the ministerial code.
The row has added to the political sensitivity surrounding the bill, which is expected to become an early test of Labour’s direction on immigration ahead of Andy Burnham’s expected rise to Downing Street.