Background to the report

Between October 2001 and late August 2021, the UK had a military presence in Afghanistan. During this 20-year period, the UK government employed local Afghan citizens. This work sometimes came with significant risk to those Afghan citizens and their families, who feared reprisals from the Taliban.

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From 2010, the UK ran a variety of schemes to resettle certain groups of Afghan citizens in specific circumstances. Although the schemes closed to new applicants in July 2025, there are still large numbers of people going through the resettlement process and the government anticipates that resettlement and integration activity will continue until 2032-33.

Responsibilities for different elements of the schemes are spread across several different departments and have changed over time.

Scope of the report

This report looks across government at all the Afghan resettlement schemes that have operated since 2021.

It provides transparency on the resettlement of eligible people to date, at a point where the schemes have been closed to new entrants but many people have yet to complete the resettlement process. It does not seek to examine and report on the overall value for money of the schemes.

The government also operates other resettlement routes, including the UK Resettlement Scheme (UKRS) and the Homes for Ukraine scheme, which are separate from the Afghan schemes and not included in the report.

Video summary

Watch Helen Holden, the report director, summarise our findings.

Concluding remarks

Between 2021 and 2025 the government resettled around 38,000 Afghan citizens in the UK, including many people who worked with British forces during the UK’s military presence in Afghanistan. The government closed its Afghan schemes in 2025 but still expects to resettle around 9,000 more people who were already in the resettlement system, by 2029.

Departments worked together to respond to a complex and high-pressure situation, taking on responsibilities for different groups of people and for the various stages of the resettlement process.

However, the response lacked overall clear governance, shared information and performance measurement, producing inefficiency which is likely to have increased costs and worsened outcomes for resettled people, compared with taking a more coordinated and planned approach earlier.

In 2024, the government recognised the need for a more effective delivery model and developed the ARP to combine the previously separate schemes. While progress has been made, important elements of effective programme management for the ARP are not yet in place.

These will be vital to how government manages remaining risks, including processing outstanding cases, managing the flow of individuals into the UK and into settled accommodation, and minimising the risk of people becoming homeless.

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Publication details

Press release

View press release (18 Mar 2026)

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