Host/Institute: Commission on the Integration of Refugees & reports published by the Woolf Institute, Cambridge
Critical Dates: Between 2022 and 2023, the Commission commissioned and conducted a series of interrelated research projects. Six supporting research reports were published in March 2024.
Links: https://refugeeintegrationuk.com/

Description from host: The Commission on the Integration of Refugees publishes its flagship report today calling for a new deal for refugee integration that works for refugees and wider British society. Based on more than two years of in-depth research, our report includes evidence from more than 1,250 stakeholders, policymakers, journalists, academics, and asylum seekers and refugees themselves. As an independent and broad-based body, the Commission offers a unique example of consensus building across political differences in a polarised and heated public debate; and our report launches on the same day debate on the scheme to send refugees to Rwanda continues in Parliament. The Commission’s recommendations are built on robust and wide-ranging evidence, with the voices of those with lived experience at the heart, and have achieved consensus across the political spectrum.

The new report reveals economic modelling developed for the Commission by the London School of Economics (LSE) which found that if just two of the Commission’s recommendations are implemented the benefits outweigh costs within three years, and by the end of year five produce an overall net economic benefit of £1.2 billion. The two recommendations that would deliver this benefit are English language classes provided from arrival and employment support given at six months, alongside the government meeting its target to process asylum applications within six months.

For the final and six supporting reports, click here.