Safe Pathways
What is the safe pathways project?
This research project centres on developing a safe pathways policy framework for people seeking sanctuary in the UK. Since 2018 there has been a significant increase in the number of people forced to take dangerous journeys to reach the UK, and options for safe routes have been increasingly narrowed. Safe pathways do exist, but they are inaccessible to most people that need them, and often focused on specific countries (e.g. Afghanistan, Hong Kong and Ukraine). It is therefore urgently important that safe routes are expanded to be more effective and inclusive of people of all nationalities.
The project sought to develop a policy framework through a co-creative method, with researchers from King’s College London working in partnership with the Community Sponsorship Alliance, and in collaboration with a range of experts in the field, including people with lived experience of forced migration, practitioners, policymakers and researchers. Through a series of focus groups and workshops, as well as a final policy conference, we were able to learn from these multiple and varied perspectives in order to formulate a clear picture of what a safe pathways framework must include.
Such a framework must be:
- Inclusive - open to people from all nationalities and based anywhere in the world with a connection to the UK.
- Community-led - develop existing community sponsorship and welcome initiatives that are proven to promote better integration outcomes; strengthen and empower UK communities.
- Scalable and sustainable - strengthen and expand infrastructure within government and local authorities; develop community capacity for a continued pathway to sanctuary into the future.
- Adaptable - rapid responses to global events without relying on new schemes each time. Open to various forms of sponsorship, including education and work pathways.
Our research found that there is significant potential for a safe pathways scheme that responds to all four principles, through expanding and developing existing community-led sponsorship. Such a scheme would sit alongside existing resettlement and complementary work and education pathways and would not replace a fair and functional asylum system. It would simplify and streamline existing processes and offer work, study and social opportunities from day one. It would involve a naming and matching component for sponsoring groups and be closely tied to welcome and inclusion initiatives.
Our full report will be available to read in mid-October.
More Information
For more information about safe routes and community sponsorship, visit the Community Sponsorship Alliance website.
For more information about welcome and integration, visit the Commission for the Integration for Refugees website.