Just like many Councils around the country, as soon as we realised what a massive humanitarian crisis was unfolding in Afghanistan, we immediately looked at what we could do to help.

We are glad to confirm that three families from Afghanistan will be provided a home and essential support by South Cambridgeshire District Council. Their relocation to the UK will be through the Afghan Locally Employed Support (LES) scheme.

“The scenes of desperation as people try to escape from Afghanistan weigh heavily on us all, and those families who arrive in the UK as refugees will need our support. They need safe and comfortable homes to build a base for their new lives, but also practical support to adjust to life in the UK, with access to everything from GPs and welfare, to skills training and school places for children,” said Lead Cabinet Member for Housing, Cllr John Batchelor. “We’ve been working on these plans in recent weeks and, as long as funding and support continue to be available from the Government, we will ensure we play our part in the national response for people who are experiencing life-changing trauma in Afghanistan.”

This support follows our commitments in recent years to provide homes to refugees from Syria, Iran and Sudan. Four families were housed under the previous scheme by the Council and in December 2020 we made a further commitment to support up to an additional four families per year. Council owned homes are not planned to be used to meet the initial pledge to house the three families and therefore it will not have an impact on the waiting time for local families who are already on the Council’s housing waiting list.