Vulnerable Persons Resettlement Scheme (VPRS) Evaluation published

Findings from Ipsos’s qualitative evaluation of the Vulnerable Persons Resettlement Scheme (VPRS) and the Vulnerable Children’s Resettlement Scheme (VCRS) for the Home Office are published, available on the Home Office website at Qualitative Evaluation of the Vulnerable Persons Resettlement Scheme (VPRS) and the Vulnerable Children’s Resettlement Scheme (VCRS) - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk). 

These VPRS/VCRS schemes, which concluded in February 2021, offered a safe and legal route to the UK for vulnerable refugees in need of protection. Ipsos were commissioned to undertake this three-year qualitative process evaluation with refugees on the VPRS/VCRS and a range of local and national stakeholders. The study examined the delivery of the VPRS/VCRS and considered how, and to what extent, the intended objectives of the schemes were being realised. The evaluation also provides evidence of good practice to inform further development and improvement of the schemes. Three research reports are available:

• The first report focuses on identifying how local authority and community sponsor groups were supporting refugees in their first year in the UK.
• The second report describes how refugees were supported with their integration beyond their first year in the UK, and how delivery changed to support new refugee cohorts. 
• The final report describes further key changes and innovative practice demonstrated by local authorities and community sponsor groups in the third year of the evaluation, as well as the challenges and lessons learnt from delivery in a pandemic year.

All reports discuss the experiences of refugees and staff delivering services to support them on issues including education, healthcare, employment and integration into local communities, among others.

Fieldwork took place between 2018 and 2020 and consisted of 5 local authority areas from across the UK and 4 community sponsor case studies. Researchers spoke to a wide range of stakeholders involved in the delivery of the schemes, and many refugee families and individuals, returning to conversations with them over the three-year period.  You can find out more about what we learned about doing research with refugees on the Social Research Association blog, here: How can social research give a voice to refugees? (the-sra.org.uk)

The study explored what was working well and what could be improved to better integrate refugees, with a focus on capturing changes in the delivery of services and identifying good practice. Examples of good practice highlighted included tailoring support to individuals’ needs and preferences, for example, by providing practical, employment-focused language classes and more community-based, volunteer-led initiatives to supplement them.