As a council we have a responsibility to provide services to everyone who lives here and to enable everyone in Portsmouth to be contributing members of our society. To achieve this we work with a range of charity and voluntary sector partners to help people integrate, this includes City of Sanctuary, Red Cross and Salvation Army.
City of Sanctuary is not about encouraging more people to come into the country or any specific area, it is a national charitable organisation aimed at making sure people are supported to become part of their communities as smoothly as possible.
At a Full Council meeting on 19 March 2024 a notice of motion was unanimously agreed to pursue City of Sanctuary’s Council of Sanctuary accreditation (you can see full details in item 29 of the meeting agenda and minutes).
Council of Sanctuary status does not change anything relating to who or how many asylum seekers the government places in the city.
The programme provides a framework that can help streamline support being offered to anyone placed in the city, this makes it more efficient for the council to perform its legal duties to provide support. It is run by the City of Sanctuary organisation which says “Becoming a Council of Sanctuary means a local authority is committed to being welcoming and fair to everyone in the community.”
Streamlining routes to support and local groups also better integrates people into the local communities they are living in and gives more opportunities for them to becoming contributing members of our society.
Find out more about the programme on our Council of Sanctuary accreditation page.
Find more information on the council’s role in supporting migrants.