Implementing integration in the UK; lessons for theory, policy and practice.

While immigration policy in the United Kingdom (UK) largely focuses on securing borders and restricting access to welfare, a separate strand has developed around promoting refugee integration. This article examines the way in which integration policy had been implemented. It explores academic and policy perspectives around what constitutes integration, and the development of integration policy. Interview and focus group data are employed to evaluate the effectiveness of UK integration initiatives. The article finds that successful initiatives adopt a pathways to integration approach that maximises the potential for the interlinkages between integration dimensions while facilitating a two-way integration process engaging refugees and wider society.