Decision details

Sheffield City Council is the lead agency in a partnership with Hull City Council and the British Refugee Council which has delivered the Gateway Protection Programme in Sheffield and Hull since 2011. The current programme ends in March 2017 and following a competitive tendering process the Home Office have offered the partnership a new four year contract, from April 2016 – March 2020.

The report seeks approval for the Council to enter into a new agreement with the Home Office to manage and deliver the Gateway Protection Programme over the course of the next four years.

That the Executive Leader-

(i) notes the contents of the report and in particular the financial implications;

(ii) approves the acceptance of the Home Office Grant offer of up to £3,919,719 and the Council entering into a funding agreement  with the Home Office in the form attached to this report as an Appendix to deliver the Gateway Protection Programme for the period1 April 2016 – 31 March 2020;

(iii) agrees to the Council becoming the Accountable Body for the Home Office grant in respect of Hull City Council and the Refugee Council and entering into funding agreements with both organisations for the elements of the programme that they deliver on terms which reflect the Council’s agreement with the Home Office; and

(iv) delegates authority to the Executive Director Communities, in consultation with the Director of Finance, to instruct the Director of Legal and Governance to finalise terms and complete the necessary documentation.

The Council has managed a successful programme delivery partnership with Hull City Council and the Refugee Council since 2011. As well as overall management of the programme, the Council has also managed the provision of housing and associated tenancy support for the Gateway refugees. The local authority VCF partnership provides excellent quality and value for money services and delivering a further programme going forward will ensure the continuity of the current delivery partnership as well as providing the best housing and resettlement services for new refugees arriving in the City.

If the Council did not enter into the funding agreements with the Home Office for this new contract the Home Office would not have sufficient time to identify another partner in the city to provide the housing and to contract with for the resettlement programme in Yorkshire and the Humber. This would mean that the national programme may not achieve its quota to resettle 750 refugees each year until 2019.

The current delivery partners have both committed to continuing the existing arrangements for the period of the new programme.