Today the Government has announced further details of ‘Operation Warm Welcome’, ensuring Afghans arriving in the UK receive the vital support they need to rebuild their lives, find work, pursue education, and integrate into their local communities.

The Government is determined to ensure that Afghans who have had to flee their homes receive the vital support they need to rebuild their lives and have a future with stability and security. That is why the Government has launched ‘Operation Warm Welcome’, which includes making at least £12 million available to provide additional school places so children can be enrolled as soon as possible, £3 million of additional NHS funding so that Afghan arrivals can access healthcare and register with a GP once they leave quarantine, as well as funding for undergraduate and postgraduate scholarships at UK universities, providing free of charge English language courses, working with councils and providing them with £5 million funding for support with housing, and appointing a specific Minister for Afghan Resettlement.

Further funding will be provided for up to 300 undergraduate and postgraduate scholarships for Afghans at UK universities and adults will also be able to access English language courses free of charge. While many will speak English through their work with the UK Government and British Forces, and as translators, language classes will ensure all their family members can fully integrate into their local communities.

The Government has also announced that those Afghans coming to the UK who worked closely with the British military and UK Government in Afghanistan, and risked their lives in doing so, will now receive indefinite leave to remain. We owe an immense debt to the brave Afghans who worked alongside us and this will give them and their families the support they need to rebuild their lives here in the UK.

The Government is continuing to work to secure safe passage out of Afghanistan for British nationals and those Afghans who have worked with us over the past 20 years.

Our first priority in Afghanistan remains ensuring that all those eligible to resettle in the UK can leave safely. The Government has been clear that the Taliban must adhere to their own stated commitments to ensure safe passage, beyond 31 August. That is why the Prime Minister’s special representative for Afghan transition, Simon Gass, yesterday travelled to Doha to meet with senior Taliban representatives to underline the importance of safe passage out of Afghanistan for British nationals, and those Afghans who have worked with us over the past 20 years.

Together with our partners and allies, we will continue to use every humanitarian and diplomatic lever to ensure the safe passage out of Afghanistan, safeguard human rights, and protect the gains made over the last two decades.

The support for Afghan arrivals follows the largest and most complex evacuation in living memory. It includes:

• £3 million of additional NHS funding so that Afghans arriving under the Afghanistan Relocations and Assistance Policy (ARAP) scheme can access healthcare and register with a GP once they leave quarantine;
• all are being offered the COVID-19 vaccine and so far more than 700 arrivals under the ARAP scheme have left quarantine and received their first vaccination, with more leaving and receiving a jab each day;
• £5 million funding for councils in England, Wales and Scotland to support Afghans coming to the UK via the ARAP scheme and provide a top up to help meet the costs of renting properties;
• the Government is already working with more than 100 councils across the UK to meet the demand for housing, with over 2,000 places already confirmed;
• the Communities Secretary will convene a roundtable with council leaders from across the country in the coming days;
• to harness the generosity of the British public and make sure those who want to help know where to turn we will launch an online portal to allow people to submit offers of support for people arriving from Afghanistan;
• this portal is already available to submit offers of housing and work is now underway to expand this to further offers, such as job opportunities, professional skills training or donations of items like clothes or toys; and
• £200 million has been committed to meet the cost of the first year of the Afghanistan Citizens’ Resettlement Scheme, which aims to welcome up to 20,000 Afghans.

For any more information on the significant cross-government effort, ‘Operation Warm Welcome’, to ensure Afghans arriving in the UK receive the vital support they need to rebuild their lives, find work, pursue education and integrate into their local communities, please visit: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/operation-warm-welcome-underway-to-support-afghan-arrivals-in-the-uk