Bracknell Forest will soon welcome a number of Afghan families who’ve fled their homeland, as part of a national resettlement scheme to provide safe and secure futures for people who have helped our military and government overseas.
Bracknell Forest Council has been made aware that initially around 300 people will be temporarily housed in the borough from this spring as part of a UK Government resettlement scheme.*
The new families will be part of the national Afghan Resettlement Programme (ARP), which was announced by the Defence Secretary in December 2024. The ARP offers relocation and resettlement to Afghan citizens, and their immediate family, who:
- worked for or with the UK Government to support the UK mission in Afghanistan
- are considered vulnerable or in danger from the Taliban
- assisted UK efforts in Afghanistan
Many of the families will have escaped a turbulent and traumatic life in their home country and will be looking to resettle in the UK permanently – either locally or elsewhere.
They have been granted indefinite leave to remain in the UK and are not illegal immigrants, asylum seekers or refugees.
Whilst the Afghan families may wish to settle in the Bracknell Forest area, it is not a certainty. The Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) support the Afghans through a scheme called Find Your Own, where Afghans will work with caseworkers to find an affordable and suitable property anywhere within England, Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland - subject to availability.
Council tax and council funding will not directly pay for the scheme. There is a standalone government funding tariff to support all new resettled Afghan arrivals to integrate into the UK and become self-sufficient. Councils can claim a single tariff per arrival on the ARP – this will help us provide care, support and create essential services like extra school places.
The council and its partners, including health, will be supporting our new residents with wrap around care so they can settle quickly, feel welcome and can start contributing to our community and economy. We are working with NHS Frimley and are developing an offer to support new patients in the area based on previous experience and, when appropriate, we will include local health partners, including local GPs and dental surgeries.
Our new families will not all arrive at once, instead they will initially arrive over the spring in three groups and can stay up to nine months in their transitional accommodation. Transitional accommodation is not, and has never been, intended to be a settled housing solution and is provided as a safe interim solution while Afghan households are supported to find their own settled homes.
The new families will initially live in transitional accommodation contracted by the Ministry of Defence (MOD). The council and its partners will not confirm or deny where this is, or where the families will eventually find their settled accommodation. We must respect their right to privacy and data protection, as we would any other resident, and ensure they have a safe and secure start to their life in the UK.
We would kindly ask other residents not to pass on information speculating on where our new families are living in transitional or in settled accommodation in the future.
Cllr Mary Temperton, leader of Bracknell Forest Council, said:
“We are working very closely with central government and the MOD to make sure that our new families arrive safely and have all the necessary support they need to thrive in their new lives in the UK.
“We have a long history of being kind, supportive and caring to people who have experienced trauma and turbulence in their lives, meaning they can no longer stay safely in their home country. I ask all our residents to show our new families the kindness that we are so proud of and welcome them with dignity and respect.
“While this national resettlement scheme is being led by the MOD, we need to play our part and offer a safe and secure home to our new Afghan residents, who have all helped our military or government in some way. I’m sure that with our usual courtesy and respect we will be able to help our new residents settle into life in the UK.”
More information
Resettlement scheme
Alongside British personnel, many Afghans also worked with commitment and courage to support the UK mission in Afghanistan. This includes members of Afghan specialist units who fought valiantly alongside UK personnel, with some giving their lives and others suffering life-changing injuries.
Resettlement schemes are distinct from asylum, as those eligible for assistance under these schemes include people who played a key role supporting Britain’s mission in Afghanistan, often at great personal risk.
Location and accommodation
We are unable to disclose where our new residents will be living for health and wellbeing reasons and to safeguard our new residents’ confidentiality. This will not affect anyone on the housing list. Please note, this is transitional accommodation under an official government resettlement scheme, it is not asylum accommodation.
Timescales
We are expecting our new residents from late spring. The residents will be able to stay in their transitional accommodation for up to a maximum of nine months. This is intended to provide time for families to acclimatise to life in the UK, fostering a culture of independent living, without dependency or incurring excessive costs. After that, the expectation is that they find alternative and more permanent accommodation. We expect that a number of these people will remain in Bracknell Forest in the longer term, but others may move to be closer to friends and family outside the borough.
*We are initially expecting 300 new people in spring 2025 as part of a rolling programme of support – additional residents are expected after that, but we do not have details of when or how many.
Residents
We are expecting our new residents to be families with a number of children and young people in each family group. Some families may also include other dependents and older relatives like grandparents. The resettlement programme aims to help Afghan citizens who worked for or with the UK Government in Afghanistan in exposed or meaningful roles and may include an offer of relocation to the UK for those deemed eligible by the MOD and who are deemed suitable for relocation by the Home Office. They have been granted indefinite leave to remain in the UK and are not illegal immigrants, asylum seekers or refugees.
Transparency
The council is leading the local response including wrap-around care alongside its partners like the NHS. However, it is a UK Government scheme. As such, we have not been at liberty to disclose information more widely. Owing to some misinformation now circulating, we are now sharing plans so that residents have a clearer understanding of what is happening. We will share what we can, when we can, but we ask residents to kindly take on board that this is a fast-moving project involving vulnerable people, so the information we share will reflect that.