Welcome for Newcomers Fund

Welcome for Newcomers Fund is sponsored by The Henry Smith Charity. Grants for organisations and partnerships supporting newcomers to the UK (refugees, people seeking asylum and other migrants, including those with no recourse to public funds) to rebuild their lives, feel at home, and become active members of their local communities.

Welcome for Newcomers - Henry Smith Welcome for Newcomers Investing in Welcome support for newcomers to the UK Grants for organisations and partnerships supporting newcomers to the UK to rebuild their lives, feel at home and become active members of their local communities ‘Welcome’ is the process of support and inclusion that helps newcomers to the UK – by whom we mean refugees, people seeking asylum and other migrants – to settle, navigate and participate in community life.

Effective Welcome combines practical and specialist assistance – e.g. with immigration, housing, welfare, mental health – with social and community activities that build trust, connection and a sense of belonging. Activities like cooking and language classes, sports and volunteering also provide trusted entry points for people to access specialist support.

This Fund supports providers of comprehensive Welcome support that enables people to start rebuilding their lives, feel at home and become active members of their local communities. The aim of the fund is to help strengthen organisations and partnerships that provide this help while also working to influence local conditions for Welcome. This will enable people to get support and help local communities strengthen cultures of Welcome.

What we’re looking to fund We will fund organisations and partnerships whose charitable purpose is to support newcomers to the UK.

Those applying should have ongoing, long-term access to safe physical spaces and have a proven track record of providing comprehensive help through three core elements of ‘Welcome’ work: Specialist support : for example, IAA-regulated immigration advice, help with rights and entitlements, destitution and housing matters, healthcare and therapeutic trauma support, English language education and employment.

We anticipate that grant holders will deliver much of this work, but we aren’t prescriptive. We understand that enabling high-quality support might mean referring people to specialist providers.

Enabling belonging: through regular social contact and relationship building within newcomer communities and between newcomers and other residents, for example through activities involving food, sport or the arts, volunteering or community sponsorship Influencing work: to help improve local conditions for Welcome.

For example, strengthening links with local employers and educators or influencing local authority policies and practices that impact newcomers’ rights and ability to connect with and participate in the community We recognise that organisations may have formed partnerships to deliver the different elements of Welcome work, building on the strengths of different organisations.

We are open to funding formal partnerships with the charitable purpose of supporting newcomers to the UK if they have a track record, robust governance and a single lead grant holder who meets our eligibility criteria. Watch the recording of our webinar Watch the live recording of our webinar to learn more about the Welcome for Newcomers Fund. Hear from the programme team who shared the thinking behind the fund, and our approach.

We answered questions about what we’re looking to fund, who’s eligible, and how to apply.

Recorded 14 July 2026, 11-12pm Focus: newcomers to the UK (refugees, people seeking asylum and other migrants including people with no recourse to public funds) Eligible organisations: registered organisations or partnerships that have: A record of provision for at least 18 months in the three core elements of welcome work Charitable purpose, mission or objects to support newcomers to the UK Ongoing, long-term access to a safe, accessible physical space or spaces where the work is delivered.

A year’s worth of accounts that have been audited or independently examined Up-to-date Safeguarding policy and practices Location: activity must take place within the UK Expressions of Interest deadline: Wednesday 26th August 2026, 5pm Applications are now open. You'll need to complete our short eligibility quiz before you apply.

Check eligibility and apply Welcome for Newcomers Fund FAQs Take our simple online eligibility checker to find out whether your organisation is eligible to apply. Eligible organisations will be able to submit an expression of interest. Expression of Interests open from Wednesday 15 July 2026.

Submit an Expression of Interest (EOI). The deadline to submit your EOI is Wednesday 26 August 2026, 5pm. We will contact you by the end of the week commencing 14 September 2026 to tell you whether you should submit a full application.

If we decide not to invite you to apply, we will explain why in writing. We review hundreds of Expressions of Interest, so unfortunately, we cannot provide detailed feedback. Submit a full application.

If you’re invited to this stage, we’ll ask more detailed questions about your work. Deadline: Friday 16 October, 5pm. You’ll have a phone conversation with a member of our team from Mid-October to Early November.

We’ll make around 20 grants following the full application stage and let you know if you’ll receive one by the end of December 2026. Sample Expression of Interest form Sample progress and final report Sample learning report form Protecting a person’s right to live in safety, free from abuse and neglect. Questions about this fund If you have any questions, please contact our Grants team.

​The Christian Grants programme supports initiatives that promote Anglican Clergy Wellbeing. Supporting fun, enriching experiences for children. Grants and support for Henry Smith’s descendants.

​The Christian Grants programme supports initiatives that promote Anglican Clergy Wellbeing. Supporting fun, enriching experiences for children. Grants and support for Henry Smith’s descendants.

Updates from the Henry Smith Foundation Dampens color and removes blinks This mode enables people with epilepsy to use the website safely by eliminating the risk of seizures that result from flashing or blinking animations and risky color combinations. Improves website's visuals This mode adjusts the website for the convenience of users with visual impairments such as Degrading Eyesight, Tunnel Vision, Cataract, Glaucoma, and others.

Cognitive Disability Mode Cognitive Disability Mode Helps to focus on specific content This mode provides different assistive options to help users with cognitive impairments such as Dyslexia, Autism, CVA, and others, to focus on the essential elements of the website more easily.

Reduces distractions and improve focus This mode helps users with ADHD and Neurodevelopmental disorders to read, browse, and focus on the main website elements more easily while significantly reducing distractions. Allows using the site with your screen-reader This mode configures the website to be compatible with screen-readers such as JAWS, NVDA, VoiceOver, and TalkBack.

A screen-reader is software for blind users that is installed on a computer and smartphone, and websites must be compatible with it. Start typing to search in Wikipedia Visually Pleasing Experience We firmly believe that the internet should be available and accessible to anyone, and are committed to providing a website that is accessible to the widest possible audience, regardless of circumstance and ability.

To fulfill this, we aim to adhere as strictly as possible to the World Wide Web Consortium’s (W3C) Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2. 1 (WCAG 2. 1) at the AA level.

These guidelines explain how to make web content accessible to people with a wide array of disabilities. Complying with those guidelines helps us ensure that the website is accessible to all people: blind people, people with motor impairments, visual impairment, cognitive disabilities, and more. This website utilizes various technologies that are meant to make it as accessible as possible at all times.

We utilize an accessibility interface that allows persons with specific disabilities to adjust the website’s UI (user interface) and design it to their personal needs. Additionally, the website utilizes an AI-based application that runs in the background and optimizes its accessibility level constantly.

This application remediates the website’s HTML, adapts Its functionality and behavior for screen-readers used by the blind users, and for keyboard functions used by individuals with motor impairments. If you’ve found a malfunction or have ideas for improvement, we’ll be happy to hear from you.

You can reach out to the website’s operators by using the following email Screen-reader and keyboard navigation Our website implements the ARIA attributes (Accessible Rich Internet Applications) technique, alongside various different behavioral changes, to ensure blind users visiting with screen-readers are able to read, comprehend, and enjoy the website’s functions.

As soon as a user with a screen-reader enters your site, they immediately receive a prompt to enter the Screen-Reader Profile so they can browse and operate your site effectively.

Here’s how our website covers some of the most important screen-reader requirements, alongside console screenshots of code examples: Screen-reader optimization: we run a background process that learns the website’s components from top to bottom, to ensure ongoing compliance even when updating the website. In this process, we provide screen-readers with meaningful data using the ARIA set of attributes.

For example, we provide accurate form labels; and others. Additionally, the background process scans all the website’s images and provides an accurate and meaningful image-object-recognition-based description as an ALT (alternate text) tag for images that are not described. It will also extract texts that are embedded within the image, using an OCR (optical character recognition) technology.

To turn on screen-reader adjustments at any time, users need only to press the Alt+1 keyboard combination. Screen-reader users also get automatic announcements to turn the Screen-reader mode on as soon as they enter the website. These adjustments are compatible with all popular screen readers, including JAWS and NVDA.

Keyboard navigation optimization: The background process also adjusts the website’s HTML, and adds various behaviors using JavaScript code to make the website operable by the keyboard.

This includes the ability to navigate the website using the Tab and Shift+Tab keys, operate dropdowns with the arrow keys, close them with Esc, trigger buttons and links using the Enter key, navigate between radio and checkbox elements using the arrow keys, and fill them in with the Spacebar or Enter key.

Additionally, keyboard users will find quick-navigation and content-skip menus, available at any time by clicking Alt+1, or as the first elements of the site while navigating with the keyboard. The background process also handles triggered popups by moving the keyboard focus towards them as soon as they appear, and not allow the focus drift outside it.

Users can also use shortcuts such as “M” (menus), “H” (headings), “F” (forms), “B” (buttons), and “G” (graphics) to jump to specific elements. Disability profiles supported in our website Epilepsy Safe Mode: this profile enables people with epilepsy to use the website safely by eliminating the risk of seizures that result from flashing or blinking animations and risky color combinations.

Visually Impaired Mode: this mode adjusts the website for the convenience of users with visual impairments such as Degrading Eyesight, Tunnel Vision, Cataract, Glaucoma, and others. Cognitive Disability Mode: this mode provides different assistive options to help users with cognitive impairments such as Dyslexia, Autism, CVA, and others, to focus on the essential elements of the website more easily.

ADHD Friendly Mode: this mode helps users with ADHD and Neurodevelopmental disorders to read, browse, and focus on the main website elements more easily while significantly reducing distractions. Blindness Mode: this mode configures the website to be compatible with screen-readers such as JAWS, NVDA, VoiceOver, and TalkBack.

A screen-reader is software for blind users that is installed on a computer and smartphone, and websites must be compatible with it. Keyboard Navigation Profile (Motor-Impaired): this profile enables motor-impaired persons to operate the website using the keyboard Tab, Shift+Tab, and the Enter keys.

Users can also use shortcuts such as “M” (menus), “H” (headings), “F” (forms), “B” (buttons), and “G” (graphics) to jump to specific elements. Additional UI, design, and readability adjustments Font adjustments – users, can increase and decrease its size, change its family (type), adjust the spacing, alignment, line height, and more.

Color adjustments – users can select various color contrast profiles such as light, dark, inverted, and monochrome. Additionally, users can swap color schemes of titles, texts, and backgrounds, with over seven different coloring options. Animations – person with epilepsy can stop all running animations with the click of a button.

Animations controlled by the interface include videos, GIFs, and CSS flashing transitions. Content highlighting – users can choose to emphasize important elements such as links and titles. They can also choose to highlight focused or hovered elements only.

Audio muting – users with hearing devices may experience headaches or other issues due to automatic audio playing. This option lets users mute the entire website instantly. Cognitive disorders – we utilize a search engine that is linked to Wikipedia and Wiktionary, allowing people with cognitive disorders to decipher meanings of phrases, initials, slang, and others.

Additional functions – we provide users the option to change cursor color and size, use a printing mode, enable a virtual keyboard, and many other functions. Browser and assistive technology compatibility We aim to support the widest array of browsers and assistive technologies as possible, so our users can choose the best fitting tools for them, with as few limitations as possible.

Therefore, we have worked very hard to be able to support all major systems that comprise over 95% of the user market share including Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Apple Safari, Opera and Microsoft Edge, JAWS and NVDA (screen readers). Notes, comments, and feedback Despite our very best efforts to allow anybody to adjust the website to their needs.

There may still be pages or sections that are not fully accessible, are in the process of becoming accessible, or are lacking an adequate technological solution to make them accessible. Still, we are continually improving our accessibility, adding, updating and improving its options and features, and developing and adopting new technologies.

All this is meant to reach the optimal level of accessibility, following technological advancements. For any assistance, please reach out to