Scottish Government high level action plan in response to the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights

7: Migrants, refugees and asylum-seekers

Thematic Tags

Migrants; Refugees and asylum seekers; Social security; Healthcare; Education; Fair work

Concluding Observation 27b

The Committee recommends that the State Party […] along with the devolved governments […] enhance its integration strategies focusing on access to social security, healthcare and education, including language courses, family unity and access to the labour market and employment services.

Context

Being able to seek asylum in another country is a human right and we have a long history of welcoming refugees and people seeking asylum to Scotland. Asylum is a matter reserved to the UK Government. We are responsible for devolved matters, including access to essential services like healthcare and education, that enable the integration of refugees and people seeking asylum in our communities. All residents of Scotland have the right to access healthcare, this includes refugees, people seeking asylum, and those whose asylum claims have been refused.

Alongside our third New Scots Refugee Integration Strategy and delivery plan, we have also co-published the Ending Destitution Together Strategy with COSLA. The strategy sets out initial actions to support people who are not allowed to claim public funds. This includes actions to deliver essential needs, enable access to specialist advice and advocacy and promote inclusive approaches so that people can pursue their ambitions and be active members of our communities.

On 7 July 2025, we wrote a joint letter with COSLA to the UK Government to raise concerns about the no recourse to public funds (NRPF) rule. We called on them to take a range of actions including ceasing the application of the NRPF rule to people in vulnerable situations and setting up a clear process for adding devolved funding to the public funds list.

Key Actions

We will publish deliverables and key areas of work for the next phase of the Ending Destitution Together Strategy by the end of 2025. This will be informed by the outputs of several engagement sessions which took place earlier in 2025 with key stakeholders including third sector organisations, local authorities and subject experts.

We will also publish an annual report which will provide an update on progress across all the New Scots Refugee Integration Strategy Delivery Plan commitments including those related to employment.

We are providing £8 million to the Scottish Refugee Council to run the national Refugee Support Service to support refugees and people seeking asylum across Scotland. This includes helping people understand their rights and giving advice and support to people so they can rebuild their lives and become part of Scottish society.

We are providing over £1 million to support delivery of the New Scots Plan. This includes English language classes, support for family reunion, translation and interpretation services, training in different languages, resources for people who are stateless, and making sure people with lived experience are involved in shaping services.

On top of this, 10 charities will receive a total of £488,058 over 2025-26 to run projects that support refugees and people seeking asylum to feel at home in Scotland and integrate into local communities by providing a range of services, such as language support, employability training, and social and cultural activities.

We continue to invest in the delivery of a casework and emergency cash first support initiative delivered by Fair Way Scotland. During 2025-26, we have provided over £440,000 to increase caseworker capacity, supporting caseworkers to cut caseloads and waiting times, extending geographical reach across Scotland, and providing cash first crisis support as well as interpretation services.

In addition, we are providing £701,000 of funding to COSLA in 2025-26 to increase access to specialist immigration advice to support local authorities assisting people subject to NRPF. This work, delivered by the International Organization for Migration, helps support vulnerable groups and complex cases, build local capacity and strengthen local service design, whilst also collecting data to strengthen the national evidence base on immigration advice needs.