Family is housed in Lambeth Palace grounds as part of new scheme enlisting help of communities and charities

A Syrian family has been housed in an empty property in the grounds of Lambeth Palace, the archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, has confirmed, as he and the Home Office launched a scheme to encourage members of the public, community groups, faith groups, charities and businesses to sponsor refugee families resettling in the UK.

The full community sponsorship scheme is intended to help the government fulfil its commitment to resettle 20,000 Syrian refugees in the UK before 2020. About 1,800 refugees have been resettled so far, less than 10% of the total.

Over the past year there have been numerous ad hoc and sometimes chaotic efforts by community groups and members of the public to provide aid to refugees waiting to come to the UK. Donations of food, clothing, books and household goods, plus offers of accommodation in spare rooms, have overwhelmed social action groups.

Launching the scheme at Lambeth Palace, the home secretary, Amber Rudd, said: “The response of the British public to the refugee crisis has been one of overwhelming generosity and many have been moved to make kind offers of assistance.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Justin Welby at Lambeth Palace. Photograph: Dylan Martinez/Reuters

She said the sponsorship scheme was “a groundbreaking development for resettlement in the UK and I wholeheartedly encourage organisations that can help to offer their support”.

Asked why it had taken 10 months for the Home Office to establish a scheme whereby offers to help refugees could be taken up, Rudd said: “We have to be absolutely clear that we’re doing everything correctly and safely. This is about families, about children – and however much we want to move quickly, we can’t compromise safety at any point.

“We have now the structure and the architecture for trying to channel people’s extraordinary goodwill, wanting to help people … I hope we’ll see a great stepping forward and acceleration of this so we can actually deliver on it. But it was right to take the time to get it right.”

Welby said there had been “no sense of delay from the Home Office or the government”. Special care needed to be taken with families who had had traumatic experiences. “It’s got to be got right at the beginning or you open your way to further tragedy in the future,” he said.

Sponsoring organisations must have the agreement of local authorities and set out a comprehensive plan for settlement in order to apply to join the scheme. Sponsors will provide housing, help refugees access medical and social services, arrange English tuition and support refugees in finding work.

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A “help refugees in the UK” page on the gov.uk website will allow members of the public to offer support. People will be able to choose from a range of donation options, including clothing, baby equipment, outings and the use of vacant housing, which must be self-contained and available for at least 12 months.

Rudd said that careful checks were carried out on refugees who could be resettled by the UN and the government. “I hope that we’ll be able to reassure people who are kind enough to open up their houses and to raise funds in their communities that we won’t take any risk with security, and those checks will keep people safe.”

Lambeth Palace, Welby’s home and his administrative headquarters as archbishop of Canterbury, is the first community group to be approved to receive a refugee family. Welby first offered a cottage in the grounds of Lambeth Palace as a home for a family from Syria last September.

“It is an enormous privilege to welcome a family to live in a cottage in the grounds of Lambeth Palace,” he said. The scheme “presents churches and other civil society groups with the opportunity to provide sanctuary to those fleeing war-torn places”, he added.

Rudd, who met the family on Tuesday, said all four children, aged between four and 10, told her they wanted to be doctors. She said: “That will be a great help to our national health service in some years to come, to have four new budding doctors. I’m really moved by the experience of meeting them and hearing from them firsthand about what a really important and exciting change it is for them.”

Welby said it had been a lot of work to reach this stage, but it had been an extraordinary partnership with the Home Office and Lambeth council. He added: “It’s a great privilege to be involved with this.” Lambeth Palace declined to give any further details about the family.

The Refugee Council chief executive, Maurice Wren, welcomed the announcement, saying: “This scheme helps harness the eagerness and determination of the public to welcome refugees into their communities. Hopefully, it can also become a way for more refugees of all nationalities to reach the UK safely and legally in the future.”

But he added: “It must be complemented by a much wider, compassionate and comprehensive response from the government to addressing the global refugee crisis which prioritises giving more refugees safe passage here, particularly those who are desperate to join their loved ones.”

Vincent Nichols, the archbishop of Westminster and leader of the Catholic church in England and Wales, said: “This innovative scheme will enable everyone to get involved with welcoming refugees, offering a very real and tangible way for people to help new arrivals settle into their communities.”

The government has agreed to take up to 3,000 vulnerable children and their relatives directly from refugee camps in the Middle East and north Africa, on top of the 20,000 refugees under the vulnerable persons resettlement (VPR) scheme.

More than 160 local authorities have signed up to accept refugees.