Greater Manchester Refugee Integration Partnership RTOF

RTOF is a national initiative which seeks to improve employment housing and wider integration outcomes for newly recognised refugees. The key aims of the RTOF programme are to

Enable innovative and place based approaches to supporting newly recognised refugees in the selected local areas.

Improve employment housing and wider integration outcomes for newly recognised refugees in the selected local areas and to increase refugee self sufficiency

Generate evidence about what works to be able to evaluate the impact of funded projects on refugee integration and self sufficiency.

GMCA acts as the lead partner for rtof or gmrip in GM coordinating and providing strategic oversight to the delivery across all 10 boroughs across its duration from January 2022 to March 2024. GMCA works in collaboration with dedicated key workers and strategic leads in each Local Authority as well as Specialist Employment Support providers Breaking Barriers and Caritas Salfords The Entrepreneurial Refugee Network tern.

Once enrolled service users receive 1 to 2 1 holistic support with a keyworker including support to access healthcare sign up to welfare benefits improve English language and digital skills build social connections look for work and find housing. The project also seeks to build and strengthen links between Local Authorities and specialist VCSE organisations already working with refugees in order to develop the systems and partnerships needed to deliver effective place based support for refugee integration in the longer term Eligibility

To be eligible individuals must have received refugee status or humanitarian protection on or after 24th February 2020. Individuals must be economically active actively seeking work or ready to take steps towards securing work in the foreseeable future and therefore need to

be of working age 18 or over and under the State Pension age not be in full time education be available for work in the foreseeable future even if not ready to work straight away due to factors such as housing mental health or language barriers.

Refugees resettled to the UK are unfortunately not eligible.

For more information please visit The Chest at www.thechest.org.uk