Thousands of Afghans are still waiting for their applications to resettle in the UK to be processed just under five years after the fall of Kabul, the public spending watchdog has found.
In a report published on Wednesday, the National Audit Office (NAO) found integration work will continue until 2033 at a total cost of £5.7billion.
According to the report, 37,950 people arrived in the UK under various Afghan resettlement schemes by the end of 2025.
However, around 29,650 people were still waiting to hear whether they would be allowed to come to Britain, despite the schemes closing to new applicants in July last year.
The NAO said ministers expected up to 9,741 more people to eventually be resettled by the end of 2029.
Britain has offered resettlement to certain groups of Afghans since 2010, particularly those facing the risk of Taliban reprisals for their work with UK forces in the country.
But resettlement work accelerated in 2021 with the US withdrawal and the Taliban’s return to power in Kabul, leading to more people applying for relocation than initially expected.
The NAO said the decision to run two separate relocation schemes across multiple departments had been “sub-optimal”, with the “chaotic” arrangements continuing for “much longer than was necessary.”
Protests were held outside Parliament in 2021 after the fall of Kabul
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In some cases, officials said the approach felt “bureaucratic” and saw some departments working at cross-purposes.
For example, the instance the decision to close “bridging hotels” housing Afghan nationals “increased the risk of homelessness”, which was a priority for the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government.
The situation was further complicated by the creation of a third route, the Afghan Response Route (ARR), for those affected by the accidental leaking of their details by a defence official in 2022.
The leak and the ARR were both the subject of a super-injunction that prohibited publication of any information about them until it was lifted last year, which Government officials told the NAO had also “restricted communication” about the resettlement schemes within Whitehall.
The APR details were leaked
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All three schemes have now been combined into a single Afghan Resettlement Programme, which the NAO said had made progress but still carried “significant risks”.
Those risks included “poor data” on the people to be resettled and their needs, as well as a lack of available housing increasing the risk that some would become homeless.
Head of the NAO Gareth Davies said Government departments had “worked together in challenging conditions to resettle thousands of Afghan citizens” at risk of reprisals, but still had “more to do to successfully resettle the affected people in the UK”.
Chairman of the influential Commons Public Accounts Committee and long serving Conservative MP Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown said the NAO had “provided some much-needed transparency on the costly figures, chaotic arrangements and the inefficient decisions made by the Government”.
Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown oversaw the report | GB NEWS
Sir Geoffrey added: “The merger of schemes into the Afghan Resettlement Programme has led to some progress, but many risks, such as poor data and lack of affordable housing, still remain.
“There is clearly a need for more to be done to prevent resettled citizens experiencing poor outcomes and minimise the risk of homelessness.”
A Government spokesman said: “The report clearly sets out the scale and complexity of Afghan resettlement, and recognises the progress that has been made, with around 38,000 Afghans already settled in the UK, and we remain committed to our target of completing Afghan resettlement by the end of this parliament.
“The Afghan Resettlement Programme, introduced by this Government, brings all schemes into a single pathway to deliver better outcomes for eligible Afghans and stronger value for money, with work continuing across Government to ensure the programme is delivered as efficiently and effectively as possible.”
The MoD asked for an extra £2.5billion to cover the costs of its Afghan asylum schemes | GETTY
The spokesman continued: “We have also recently introduced new key performance indicators to improve case handling times and provide greater transparency for applicants and their supporters.
“[This is] alongside an online Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy eligibility self-checker.”