The IRC in the UK
Refugees, asylum and migration are highly discussed topics in the UK, but many people feel that the public conversation has lost its focus.
So what do the British public actually think about the refugee debate? And how can we have a more constructive conversation?
Results from YouGov polling commissioned by the IRC in June 2026 suggest people feel that this topic is over simplified, failing to make key distinctions, and falls short in paying attention to what matters most.
76% of Britons say refugees should be distinguished from the wider migration debate
Refugees – people fleeing persecution and danger in their home country – are often conflated within a wider debate around migration.
For example, people crossing the English Channel in small boats have become a focal point despite making up just 5% of immigration to the UK. The fact that the vast majority of people making these dangerous crossings are refugees, fleeing danger in crisis and conflict affected countries like Sudan, is often downplayed.
Who is a refugee?
The terminology around refugees and asylum is often misused and misunderstood.
A refugee is someone forced to leave their country in search of safety elsewhere, with no way to go back. Whether they're fleeing persecution for who they are or what they believe, or escaping armed conflict and violence, return simply isn't an option for them. Under the 1951 Refugee Convention, an international agreement signed in the aftermath of the Second World War, governments have promised to protect refugees and not send them back to danger.
Related: Refugees and asylum - key terms explained
Masoma, a refugee living in the UK, was forced to flee Afghanistan and leave her life behind when the country’s government changed. The IRC in the UK helps people like Masoma with integration and employment support so they can start to rebuild their lives.
59% say too much attention is paid to how people arrive and not enough on why
With small boats dominating the headlines, you’d expect more focus on why people are crossing the channel, not just on how.
Our polling suggests that Britons want a more constructive debate: one that recognises concerns about arrivals while also explaining the conflicts, persecution and crises that force people to seek safety, and the practical solutions that can make refugee protection work better.
Where do refugees come from, and why are they forced to flee?
Behind every arrival figure is a person who has left everything behind because staying was no longer survivable. The countries most represented among people arriving in the UK in small boats - Eritrea, Iran, Afghanistan, Sudan and Somalia among them - are also some of the world’s most dangerous places to live, marked by war, persecution and collapsing state protection.
Many of these countries are also places where the IRC works as a humanitarian aid charity, and feature heavily on the IRC’s annual Emergency Watchlist, a report that ranks and analyses the world’s most pressing humanitarian crises each year.
Maryam is a refugee living in the UK. On arriving in the UK she utilised the IRC’s integration support services that help refugees with careers support, language and cultural orientation.
53% are proud of Britain’s history of offering asylum
More than half of Britons (53%) say they are proud of the UK’s history of offering asylum to people fleeing war, persecution or serious danger.
Britain’s history of offering protection and safety – whether through asylum or resettlement schemes – stretches from the Kindertransport in the 1930s to the resettlement of Bosnians in the 1990s, and, more recently, people fleeing Syria, Afghanistan and Ukraine - and it sits behind the UK’s role as one of the original signatories to the 1951 Refugee Convention.
63% are sympathetic towards refugees fleeing war and persecution
Almost two thirds of Britons (63%) say they are sympathetic towards people fleeing war, persecution or serious danger - a reminder that public attitudes are more compassionate than the loudest voices in the debate often suggest.
Britain was one of the first signatories of the Refugee Convention of 1951 and those values – compassion and empathy, alongside a desire to help those in need – are still alive today.
How can we help refugees?
There are many ways we can support refugees in the UK and around the world.
How the IRC supports refugees in the UK
At the IRC we are proud to be the only large-scale humanitarian organisation that works across the arc of crisis, responding to our clients’ needs in the world’s worst humanitarian crises through to supporting them as they rebuild their lives, including here in the UK.
Our UK programmes include employment support, integration and orientation services, as well as training for teachers, schools and communities supporting refugees. Learn more about what we do as a UK refugee charity here.
You can help: Donate now to the IRC to support our work in the UK and around the world.
Helping refugees through community sponsorship
Community groups in the UK are also helping refugees through community sponsorship groups, with help from the IRC. Learn more about how community sponsorship works and how you can help.
“I enjoy putting a smile on the customers' faces”. The IRC supports refugees like Casey with employment and integration services. After working with the IRC UK's employment team, she turned her work experience placement into a job offer.
Photo: Tamara Kiptenko
Where the conversation about refugees should really begin…
As we mark 75 years of the Refugee Convention, there is an opportunity to have a more constructive conversation about refugees - starting with why people flee, what happens once they arrive, and what it would take to make the system work.
“When the public only hears about arrivals, numbers and pressure, the human reality of displacement is lost. That does not help people seeking safety, and it does not help the public understand how a fair and effective system can respond.” - IRC UK Executive Director, Flora Alexander.
To learn more, read the IRC’s report, Protection Under Pressure, and find out why the core principles of the Refugee Convention matter more than ever, and what it will take to preserve them for the next generation.
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Why support the IRC?
The International Rescue Committee helps people facing humanitarian crises to survive, recover and rebuild their lives. Our work spans over 40 crisis-affected countries, as well as supporting refugees who are rebuilding their lives in the United Kingdom.
