Decision details

Allocation of Home Office Full Dispersal Grant Funding

In April 2022 the Home Office announced the new policy of ‘Full Dispersal’ where all local authorities in England, Scotland and Wales were informed they would house people seeking asylum and become dispersal areas.

A payment is made by Home Office to facilitate Local Authorities to assist with their costs of supporting Asylum Seekers under Asylum Full Dispersal. The payment is to address concerns raised by Local Authorities in relation to pressure on local services associated with supporting Asylum Seekers.

It is proposed that some of the funding is used as below, in line with the funding instruction, to support asylum seekers with integration and the challenges of living in contingency accommodation.

• Refugee Action York Support for Asylum Seekers receiving a positive decision in York (£80,000) August 2025 - July 2026
When a positive asylum decision is received, we allocate the couple/family a RAY Project Worker to advocate and help liaise with the appropriate housing teams at the Local Authority, and to prepare for receipt of benefits. The Project Worker provides regular contact and support through phone calls and visits, using translation where required. RAY is the only dedicated service for refugees and asylum seekers based in York. Pre-pandemic, they worked with an average of 130 people per year. Since then, with the global crises in Afghanistan and Ukraine and the opening of Contingency Accommodation hotels, demand for their services has hugely increased, and last year they worked with over 1,200 people in the city.

To approve and not to approve

Not to approve. There is a requirement for us to spend this funding in line with guidance provided by Home Office around integration.