Mayor hopes Hackney will become Borough of Sanctuary ‘within a year’

Hackney mayor Caroline Woodley. Photograph: Josef Steen / free for use by LDRS partners

Hackney’s mayor has said she wants to secure the borough’s official status as a welcoming place for refugees and migrants by this time in 2026.

Facing questions last Thursday (10 April), Caroline Woodley outlined her priorities for the coming year, which include making the municipality a ‘Borough of Sanctuary’.

She told committee members the local authority had already “demonstrated [its] commitment” to this, and that she had been working alongside the borough’s Refugee and Migrant Forum and others “in the hope of achieving that status within a year”.

The title ‘Borough of Sanctuary’ is recognised by national charity City of Sanctuary, which aims to forge partnerships between the voluntary and community sectors and statutory bodies like local councils across the UK.

In the Town Hall’s words, its aim is to establish a network of towns and cities that are “proud to be places of safety and inclusion for asylum seekers, refugees and migrants”.

Hackney began its journey towards this designation in 2023, when a majority of councillors gave the goal their backing.

As part of its efforts, the council put pressure on former Home Secretary Suella Braverman to reverse her stance on dropping key commitments from the Windrush Compensation Scheme.

This year, the council made an explicit challenge to the Labour government to end the previous Conservative administration’s ‘hostile environment’ policy towards people in the UK without regular immigration status.

The Hackney Refugee and Migrant Forum (HRMF) is behind various initiatives to support migrants and refugees and operates within the North East London Integrated Care Board (NEL ICB).

According to the forum’s website, the group “works strategically” with both the NHS and the Town Hall to “effectively oversee and support all third-sector organisations in City and Hackney, ensuring a comprehensive and cohesive network of assistance for migrants and refugees”.

Mayor Woodley’s announcement came alongside several updates given as part of ‘Mayor’s Question Time’, where she answered written queries from both the cabinet and the public.

She reported that Hackney had secured millions more in funding for special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) provision, supporting her goal of establishing a new special school in the borough.

She also highlighted that, during 2024, the council had overseen a rise in the number of social care assessments carried out.

On housing, the mayor emphasised that Hackney Council was acting on its pledge to roll out selective landlord licensing across the whole borough, and that plans would be put forward to her cabinet this month, though she had hoped to have done this sooner.

As part of the council’s strategy to raise standards in the private rented sector, this scheme would mandate that landlords obtain a permit to rent out properties.

However, those owners who join accreditation schemes to prove a commitment to good practice may receive a discount.

This update comes after opposition councillors last week renewed calls for the Town Hall to speed up the policy.

Mayor Woodley added that, when accounting for housing, over 40 per cent of the borough’s children were living in poverty, but the council was “doing our bit to support those families and everyone living in poverty”.

To fight this destitution, she said, Hackney had rolled out its council tax reduction scheme of up to 90 per cent for select households two years earlier than planned, opened four children and family hubs, and commissioned 26 support services for families and young people.

But she acknowledged that many of the borough’s residents continue to “feel left behind”.

“Never was that brought home to me more than when I was able to get back out on the door after the pandemic and found some people in a really stark state of mental health, or with their home in need of disrepair,” she said.

“There’s a huge gap between residents who are really benefiting from all the amenities that we offer, and those that are just almost hidden and that we’re at risk of losing.”

The mayor said this underlined the importance of partnership work between the local authority and services like Citizens Advice.