Source · National Audit Office

Investigation into the Afghan resettlement schemes

Published: 18 Mar 2026 Recommendations: 6 Type: Value for Money Department: Cross-government

Government must overcome challenges to ensure its programme to resettle thousands of Afghan citizens in the UK is successfully completed.

Dept: Cross-government Topics: Borders and immigrationHousingLocal services and housing nao.org.uk →

Recommendations

6 items
Government response pending.

The NAO has not yet recorded a response to these recommendations. This report was published 18 March 2026.

Rec Recommendation Addressee Acceptance Implementation
1
In completing the delivery of the Afghan Resettlement Programme (ARP), government should focus on: a) urgently finishing establishing the key elements of effective programme management, including a programme plan, key performance indicators and a single source of cross-departmental management information
Ref Page 11, 20a
Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office; Home Office; Ministry of Defence; Ministry of Housing Communities and Local Government Pending
2
b) undertaking scenario analysis to understand the potential barriers to completing the relocation of all eligible people to the UK and moving them out of transitional accommodation by December 2029, and how these can be overcome;
Ref Page 11, 20b
Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office; Home Office; Ministry of Defence; Ministry of Housing Communities and Local Government Pending
3
c) monitoring the effect of the 2025 policy changes under the ARP, particularly the introduction of a nine-month limit for transitional accommodation;
Ref Page 11, 20c
Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office; Home Office; Ministry of Defence; Ministry of Housing Communities and Local Government Pending
4
d) using the results of current pilot approaches, in which local authorities and community organisations play a more prominent role from earlier in the resettlement process, to identify innovative approaches and spread good practice; and
Ref Page 11, 20d
Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office; Home Office; Ministry of Defence; Ministry of Housing Communities and Local Government Pending
5
e) identifying measures of successful integration for Afghan resettled people and using these to assess outcomes.
Ref Page 11, 20e
Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office; Home Office; Ministry of Defence; Ministry of Housing Communities and Local Government Pending
6
The government should consider how it can feed the lessons from its experience on the Afghan schemes into the design and operation of future resettlement schemes, and how it can retain the expertise it has built up.
Ref Page 11, 21
Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office; Home Office; Ministry of Defence; Ministry of Housing Communities and Local Government Pending