Migration and Asylum Update
Renfrewshire Council · 3 December 2025
Back to Leadership Board — 3 December 2025 and its agenda
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PUBLIC ___________________________________________________________________ To: Leadership Board On: 3 December 2025 ___________________________________________________________________ Report by: Chief Executive ___________________________________________________________________ Heading: Migration and Asylum Update ___________________________________________________________________ 1. Summary 1.1 This paper provides an overview of recent developments in relation to migration and asylum provision in Renfrewshire. 1.2 Services and partners continue to work closely to respond to emerging policy developments in relation to migration and asylum activities, and have established a number of partnership groups and structures to work closely on any identified issues, including through the Strategic Migration Group chaired by the Chief Social Work Officer. 1.3 Regular updates will be provided to elected members as these develop, with regular briefings provided to group leaders in line with a previous decision of the Leadership Board. Information at ward level will be communicated to elected members should significant information at this level be provided to the organisation. ___________________________________________________________________ 2. Recommendations 2.1 Members are requested to note the content of the report. ___________________________________________________________________ 3. Background 3.1 Renfrewshire has a strong track record in terms of supporting people who come to live and settle in the area through different humanitarian programmes or resettlement routes, and services and partners have worked very closely in
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PUBLIC recent years to develop the skills, experience and supports required in response. 3.2 The level of change experienced in terms of migration and asylum related activities in recent years has been considerable, and has required officers to work with partners to monitor and consider the impact of these changes through new partnership groups and initiatives. As highlighted in previous updates, the focus in 2025 has been on working with partners to assess how services should respond to increasing levels of diversity in Renfrewshire’s communities, and to develop initial actions to support New Scots as they resettle in Renfrewshire. 3.3 As previously reported to Elected Members, the 2022 Census evidenced significant change in terms of the diversity of Renfrewshire’s communities in relation to ethnicity in particular. A report was previously provided to the board in November 2024 which highlighted how international migration has driven short term increases in our local population. Officers recently offered presentations on ward-level demographic changes, as part of elected member development week, which were well received. 3.4 This paper provides an update for members on the work programme being progressed by officers and partners, and also highlights a number of emerging issues for consideration. 4. Resettlement Programmes 4.1 The Council and its partners have supported a number of resettlement programmes since 2015 in Renfrewshire. In recent years these have involved in particular, support for Ukrainian people displaced as a result of the invasion by Russia, and the Afghan resettlement programme. As of 30 September 2025, just under 600 refugees are known to be supported across Renfrewshire through resettlement or humanitarian protection schemes. This includes Afghan, Somalian, Syrian and Ukrainian families and individuals. 4.2 Support for Ukrainian Displaced Persons has been a significant undertaking in recent years, with this group representing a significant proportion of the caseload for the Council’s resettlement team. At this time, 506 Ukrainian Displaced Persons (UDPs) across Renfrewshire are currently being supported, totalling 215 households. 187 households are being supported through tenancies with social landlords including the Council.
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PUBLIC 4.3 The rate of arrivals has slowed significantly following the closure of the main visa schemes, with many UDPs now applying for the 18th month extension offered by the UK Government on their existing 3 year visa. 4.4 The Council has also been asked in recent years to support Afghan nationals through a number of specific resettlement programmes. In May 2025, these were replaced by a new umbrella Afghan Resettlement Programme, with the UK Government writing to all local authorities in the UK to request participation and support given the urgent requirement for Afghan nationals to be resettled within the UK. These resettlement schemes typically operate on the basis of a visa being provided for a period of 3-5 years, with participants coming to the UK being approved for resettlement by the UK Government prior to entry, and gaining rights to education, employment, welfare benefits etc for the period of residency. 26 Afghan households are currently being supported by the resettlement team. 4.5 The Council receives funding from the UK Government to provide resettlement support through the above programmes, although elements of the Ukraine programme funding are now coming to an end. The funding is used to resource the resettlement team, with recent developments including the recruitment of specialist posts to support the health and wellbeing of refugees being supported by the team. This ensures there is enhanced signposting to services such as employability and advice services. 5. Asylum dispersal 5.1 As previously reported to the Leadership Board, the UK Government have rolled out a programme of asylum dispersal over the past few years, in order to ensure that the requirement to provide support to asylum seekers is shared more proportionately across regions and local authority areas. 5.2 It is important to note that people have a legal right to seek asylum once in the country – if assessed as destitute, support and accommodation is provided by Home Office and Mears whilst formal application to remain is assessed. This may be in hotel accommodation or in an individual property procured or leased through Mears. In Renfrewshire, hotel accommodation and individual properties are utilised by Mears. The Home Office publishes information on those seeking asylum by country and local authority – this can be accessed at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/immigration-system-statistics-year- ending-june-2025 5.3 Local authorities are not responsible for housing people who are seeking asylum and do not receive funding to provide this support. However, they do have a statutory duty to provide support once people have been granted
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PUBLIC asylum and the right to remain in the UK. Regular updates on any housing related issues have been reported regularly to the Communities and Housing Board, with the most recent update being provided in October 2025. This noted that support to individuals who have been assessed by the UK Government as having the right to remain, has continued to steadily grow, however this is not playing as significant a role in terms of housing related pressures as is being experienced in other local authorities. 6. Unaccompanied asylum-seeking children and young people 6.1 The Home Office indicates there remains significant pressure on the number of unaccompanied asylum-seeking children (UASC) in the UK and there is a possibility that the allocation to individual authorities will increase through the National Transfer scheme and protocol. Renfrewshire continues to receive arrivals through the scheme and like all other local authorities remains under a duty to comply. 6.2 The UASC Team receive referrals from Migrant Help and Mears, and work collaboratively with Council services to ensure that the needs of all children are met. 7. Recent development activities 7.1 As noted above officers have recently provided ward briefings to elected members as part of elected member development week, highlighting the results from the 2022 population census, including increasing levels of ethnic diversity across Renfrewshire and within specific wards. 7.2 Officers have worked with partners over the past 12-18 months to form a Strategic Migration Group to consider the impact of Renfrewshire’s changing population, and to commence the process of developing a New Scots action plan for Renfrewshire. A needs assessment session with partners was held on 23 October 2025 to initially consider information available on provision and support for New Scots. 7.3 Whilst this work has been developing over the past 12-18 months, the level of focus and discussion asylum and migration related issues has increased considerably. In September 2025, full Council agreed a motion which recognised that: “Renfrewshire has a proud history of welcoming and supporting refugees to settle here and become part of our communities and recognises the rich contributions
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PUBLIC they and other migrants who choose Renfrewshire as their home make to the area. Renfrewshire Council reaffirms its commitment to welcoming refugees and migrants who choose to make Renfrewshire their home” 7.4 It is recognised by partners that it will be increasingly important to work together to support community cohesion, and to provide information on activities that take place in relation to migration and asylum. This is particularly important in terms of tackling mis/dis/mal information which may be being circulated. 7.5 In the short term, work is underway to create an information page on the Council’s website to make sure factual information is in the public domain. This uses information which has been collated by COSLA for use by local authorities and is being supplemented with local information by the local team. 7.6 Officers will also be linking with the Renfrewshire Integration Network (In Ren), who have been working on an action plan relating to the integration of New Scots in Renfrewshire. They have launched a pledge – linked to a “We Are All Renfrewshire” campaign. 7.7 Officers will also continue to work proactively with partners and the wider community to identify opportunities to support Renfrewshire’s communities in relation to these issues, with various partnership discussions being scheduled to explore some of the opportunities and challenges being identified. 8. Next steps 8.1 As outlined above, officers will continue to engage through the Strategic Migration Group chaired by the Chief Social Work Officer, to monitor and respond to the impact of any emerging pressures as a result of the developments outlined in this paper. 8.2 In line with the previous decision of the Leadership Board, officers will continue to brief Group Leaders on any strategic developments outwith the Leadership Board meetings as scheduled, whilst ward members will be specifically briefed should any emerging information be relevant and available at that level.
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PUBLIC Implications of the Report 1. Financial – the increasing demand on services has been largely managed within existing resources with some additional staffing being put into place through migration and asylum funding streams allocated to the Council by the UK and Scottish Government. 2. HR & Organisational Development – – Grant funding allocated by both the UK Government and Scottish Government for different schemes has been utilised to fund additional support staff as required. 3. Community/Council Planning – Supporting New Scots to resettle in Renfrewshire is an important element of the Fairer Renfrewshire programme, and has been identified as a priority by members of the Fairer Renfrewshire lived experience panel. 4. Legal - relevant legal advice is sought from colleagues in relation to proposed policy changes and their impact on Renfrewshire as required. 5. Property/Assets – none 6. Information Technology - none 7. Equality and Human Rights – the Recommendations contained within this report have been assessed in relation to their impact on equalities and human rights. The New Scots strategy supports a human rights based approach to the resettlement of people in local communities. These principles remain core to local discussions with partners in relation to proposed policy changes which may arise 8. Health and Safety - none 9. Procurement – none 10. Risk – the paper notes potential risks in terms of increased pressure on local resources as a result of national policy changes around asylum dispersal and wider resettlement programmes, and particularly highlights increased financial risks which have been identified in relation to potentially significant pressures on housing and homeless services. 11. Privacy Impact – none 12. COSLA Policy Position – regular updates on migration and asylum developments are considered through COSLA Leaders and policy boards. 13. Climate Risk – none 14. Children’s Rights – Childrens rights are considered in relation to the support that is offered to children and young people receiving support in Renfrewshire through asylum and resettlement programmes. Author: Laura McIntyre, Head of Policy and Partnerships