Source · National Audit Office

Investigation into the Afghan resettlement schemes

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

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

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

Recommendations

6 items

6 accepted 4 implemented 2 in progress

Recommendation 1

Addressee: Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office; Home Office; Ministry of Defence; Ministry of Housing Communities and Local Government · Source location: Page 11, 20a

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

Response position: Accepted

Delivery: Implemented · 09/2026 · Confirmed by NAO

Recommendation 2

Addressee: Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office; Home Office; Ministry of Defence; Ministry of Housing Communities and Local Government · Source location: Page 11, 20b

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;

Response position: Accepted

Delivery: Implemented · 09/2026 · Confirmed by NAO

Recommendation 3

Addressee: Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office; Home Office; Ministry of Defence; Ministry of Housing Communities and Local Government · Source location: Page 11, 20c

c) monitoring the effect of the 2025 policy changes under the ARP, particularly the introduction of a nine-month limit for transitional accommodation;

Response position: Accepted

Delivery: Implemented · 09/2026 · Confirmed by NAO

Recommendation 4

Addressee: Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office; Home Office; Ministry of Defence; Ministry of Housing Communities and Local Government · Source location: Page 11, 20d

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

Response position: Accepted

Delivery: In progress · Confirmed by NAO

Recommendation 5

Addressee: Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office; Home Office; Ministry of Defence; Ministry of Housing Communities and Local Government · Source location: Page 11, 20e

e) identifying measures of successful integration for Afghan resettled people and using these to assess outcomes.

Response position: Accepted

Delivery: Implemented · 09/2026 · Confirmed by NAO

Recommendation 6

Addressee: Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office; Home Office; Ministry of Defence; Ministry of Housing Communities and Local Government · Source location: Page 11, 21

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.

Response position: Accepted

Delivery: In progress · 10/2026 · Confirmed by NAO