Study title

Since 2000 the UK has operated compulsory dispersal, a policy designed to ‘spread the burden’ of housing asylum seekers who require accommodation across the UK and discourage long-term settlement in London and the South East. To enhance understanding of refugee integration in the UK, this research focuses on the onward migration decisions of those who were dispersed and later granted refugee or humanitarian protection status. To date, much of the dispersal literature has critiqued the policy and focused on the negative outcomes for individuals removed from their networks. This project fills a knowledge gap surrounding the onward migration decisions and integration outcomes of refugees who were dispersed as asylum seekers in the UK. In this two-year (2012-2014), ESRC-funded project, we mapped the geography of onward migration amongst refugees dispersed across the UK as asylum seekers. We then explored the main factors that influence refugees' decision to stay in a town or city or move on and considered how this affects the process of integration. And finally we examined policy implications for different levels of governance, service providers and the voluntary sector, in terms of the long-term impact of UK dispersal policy upon refugee onward migration and integration.