Gateway Protection Programme

The Gateway Protection Programme is a scheme operated by the British government in partnership with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and co-funded by the European Union (EU), offering a legal route for a quota of UNHCR-identified refugees to be resettled in the United Kingdom. Following a proposal by the British Home Secretary, David Blunkett, in October 2001, the legal basis was established by the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002 and the programme itself launched in March 2004. Since its inception, the programme has enjoyed broad support from the UK's main political parties.

The Gateway Protection Programme initially had a quota of 500 refugees per year, which was later increased to 750, but the actual number of refugees resettled in most years has been fewer than the quota permitted. Liberian, Congolese, Sudanese, Burmese, Ethiopian, Mauritanian, Iraqi, Bhutanese, Eritrean, Palestinian and Somali refugees are amongst those who have been resettled under the programme. Refugees have been resettled to a number of locations in England and Scotland. Of the 18 local authorities participating as resettlement locations by 2012, eight are in the North West region of England and three in Yorkshire and Humberside. Evaluations of the programme have praised it as having a positive impact on the reception of refugees by local communities, but have also noted the difficulties these refugees have faced in securing employment.

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