As part of a package of reforms to the UK’s asylum system, Shabana Mahmood has laid out the details of a new community sponsorship route for refugees to come to the UK.

The home secretary’s announcement draws on Canada’s experience of resettling over 400,000 refugees since 1979 through community sponsorship. While the planned UK scheme is much smaller in scale, Mahmood says it will “build over time as public confidence is restored in Britain’s immigration system”.

The UK government has identified a need to respond to global crises, but has stated that any routes need to be “sustainable, well managed and in line with the UK capacity to welcome, accommodate and integrate refugees”. It has identified community sponsorship as a way to meet this aim alongside its efforts to reduce irregular migration, including small boat crossings.

Britain has some limited experience with community sponsorship. A small scheme has welcomed 600 people since 2016. Sponsor groups are required to apply for approval and must raise at least £9,000. The Homes for Ukraine scheme welcomed around 234,000 people and required pre-arrival checks for hosts. But it did not stipulate fundraising – and even provided thank you payments to hosts.

The new proposal draws on Canada’s model by allowing sponsors to name which refugees they will sponsor. It also allows a wider range of organisations to become sponsors,........

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