Sheffield ranked in top 10 UK areas which resettle the most refugees

The data, which runs until June this year, shows that 402 refugees have been resettled in Sheffield since 2014, under the Vulnerable Persons Resettlement Scheme, Vulnerable Children’s Resettlement Schemes and the UK Resettlement Scheme.

The local authority which has accepted the most refugees during this time is Coventry, with 725, followed by Bradford with 635 and Birmingham with 546.

Leeds came in at number 10, after rehoming 383 refugees in the last seven years.

Yorkshire and The Humber is the English region which has resettled the most refugees, with 2,624 people rehomed since 2014.

It comes as the UK prepares to take thousands of vulnerable Afghan refugees over the coming years, following the Taliban’s rapid takeover of the country and the ensuing surge of citizens desperate to escape.

The UK’s resettlement schemes allow vulnerable refugees to travel to the UK to start a new life, with 20,000 Afghans set to be resettled in the coming years. People who seek asylum in the UK once they have arrived are not included in the figures.

Across the 334 local authorities that took in resettled refugees, 43 have accepted fewer than 10 while 61 have welcomed 100 or more.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has responded to the analysis by calling on all UK councils to help support refugees during the crisis.

Matthew Saltmarsh, spokesperson for UN refugee agency UNHCR UK said: “It’s been really heartening to see the groundswell of support across UK society for the Afghans in light of recent events.

“We would encourage local authorities right across the country to help as best they can with an urgent global problem by extending a welcome to refugees, in support of government efforts, by offering them the best chance possible to rebuild their lives in a new community.”

The analysis has also exposed an imbalance in the distribution of refugees across council areas.

Labour areas have taken in 33 per cent of the total while just 15 per cent went to areas under Tory rule. The bulk – 10,750, or 48 per cent – were homed in councils where there was no overall political control, as is the case in Sheffield.

There are 23 Conservative-held areas including Kensington and Chelsea, Havant and Ribble Valley which have resettled fewer than 10 refugees since 2014. Only five Labour councils have taken fewer than 10.

The lowest number of refugees have been housed in Northampton, Derby and North East Derbyshire, which have all only taken in one refugee during this time period.

Barking and Dagenham, East Northamptonshire, Eastleigh, Erewash, Huntingdonshire, Kensington and Chelsea, Maidstone, Mid and East Antrim, Porstmouth, Ribble Valley, South Holland, Staffordshire Midlands, Stockport, East Suffolk, Basildon, Basingstoke and Deane, Chelmsford, Manchester, Chiltern, Luton, North Warwickshire, Oadby and Wigston, Thurrock and Amber Valley have all taken in less than five refugees since 2014.

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