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What Reading The Latest Migration Exchange Report Tells Us

Building with a sign that says 'Refugees Welcome'

This past quarter, James looked at some insights from the latest Migration Exchange report on the UK’s refugee and asylum charity sector. It’s the first update in two years, and while it’s mostly challenges, it is good to see more people working to make a difference.

The Sector is Growing

If you include every charity that works with refugees and asylum seekers, there are now 1,717 charities in the UK. That’s a 56% increase since 2020 – 613 new charities.

The “core” sector – charities that focus primarily or exclusively on refugee and migration issues – has grown by 45%, adding 257 new organisations. Most of these are new small charities. People standing up and making a difference.

Income is Up – But not as much as the growth of the sector

Since 2022, the core sector’s total income has grown by about 30%, reaching nearly £254 million in 2025.

  • Nearly two-thirds of charities have an income below £100,000.
  • 40% operate on just £2,000–£25,000 a year.
  • The one-third of charities with incomes over £100,000 control 95% of the sector’s money.
  • The 10% with incomes over £500,000 receive 74% of all resources.

So, while funding to the sector is bigger, there are more charities and funding is largely concentrated among a smaller number of large organisations. What this doesn’t tell us is how many of those new organisations are those running as volunteers on a tiny budget. Anecdotally, we think it’s high.

Funding Challenges

Most funding for the sector comes from a small pool of independent trusts and foundations, and government support is declining. Central government grants for asylum support are now £256 million, less than 20% of what they were three years ago. We’ve seen evidence of councils increasing their budgets for housing asylum seekers recently and assume this relates.

Overall, demand for funding far exceeds what’s available and this balance is likely to worsen. Several funders say they’re already overwhelmed by the volume of applications and lack the capacity to adequately respond.

Positive Shifts

In what we think is positive news,  nearly half of funders report increasing support for NGOs led by people with lived migration experience. A similar number have boosted funding for small, local organisations.

Growing Risks

The sector faces more than financial strain. Many funders and charities are worried about the rise of far-right influence and increasingly hostile narratives toward refugees. A Guardian article in August reported that half of NGOs have received threats just for doing their work. Some have installed safe rooms. Some CEOs report receiving death threats.

What Does This All Mean?

More people are stepping up to help and make a difference, in response to the massively growing need, and in face of an increasingly hostile environment. That’s great. We note that many of them are doing so on what is effectively a shoe-string budget. Funding remains tight and is growing ever more so.. The growth of small charities shows that people care and want to help – supporting them to find resources to make that difference is much harder.

Photo by Maria Teneva

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