Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment her Department has made of the average time taken for newly recognised refugees to secure accommodation following the issuance of a biometric residence permit.

We continue to work closely with local authorities to improve housing outcomes for newly recognised refugees leaving asylum accommodation.

In March this year, the Home Office decided to set the notice period for all individuals granted leave exiting the asylum accommodation estate to 42 days, following an extensive 56-day pilot and evaluation. In reaching the decision, we considered a wide range of evidence, including key findings from the evaluation of the 56-day pilot. The full evaluation can be found on gov.uk: www.gov.uk/government/publications/evaluation-of-the-initiatives-to-enhance-the-move-on-process/evaluation-of-the-initiatives-to-enhance-the-move-on-process.

It is important that individuals initiate plans to move on from asylum support as soon as they are served their asylum decision in order to maximise the time they have to make move on arrangements, regardless of when their eVisa (which replaced biometric residence permits in for newly recognised refugees leaving asylum accommodation in 2024) is issued. Support is available to all individuals through Migrant Help in order to do this, which includes advice on how to access Universal Credit, the labour market and where to get assistance with housing.