RefuAid providing practical response to forced migration

RefuAid was founded in 2015 in an effort to provide a practical response to forced migration for refugees and asylum-seekers living in the UK. Their primary focus is to provide sustainable and successful solutions to the three key barriers to access for refugees trying to restart their lives in the UK: finance and re-qualification, language tuition and specialist employment advice. RefuAid's language programme focuses on supporting refugees with English language qualifications required for higher education and employment. They are currently supporting over 100 healthcare professionals including doctors, nurses and pharmacists with OET and General English preparation courses and exams including the IELTS exam for students. 

At the beginning of March 2022, RefuAid’s CEO and COO travelled to Warsaw to work with local organisations supporting those who had fled Ukraine and to work on providing safe routes to the UK where possible. It quickly became apparent that there was very little information or awareness of the UK based schemes for Ukrainians, so very few people realised it was a viable option.

Following this, they have been working closely with UK and Warsaw based organisations to establish a robust referral system, allowing Polish NGO’s to refer anyone who has fled Ukraine and is interested in coming to the UK to work or study, whilst ensuring that they would be well supported by local organisations upon arrival to the UK.

There are multiple ways in which they are supporting with this. First, they have been working on the Homes for Ukraine sponsorship scheme, whereby individuals and families in the UK can sponsor those fleeing Ukraine by offering a spare room or home. Alongside their fantastic partners at Refugees at Home, they have been working to connect hosts to those most in need, whilst also supporting with visa applications, employment and language tuition.

In addition to the Homes for Ukraine sponsorship scheme, RefuAid has recently started working with a number of employers across the UK as part of a business consortium. Each business has generously offered to support a number of our refugee clients. This programme has huge potential as each employer has committed to supporting anyone fleeing war and persecution, not just those from Ukraine. If you know of any business looking to support on this, please contact [email protected]

RefuAid continues to be committed to supporting refugees and asylum seekers in the UK with equal access to meaningful employment that is commensurate with their skills and experiences, and they are continuing to scale up their existing programmes to meet demand and ensure they are able to support as many people as possible. RefuAid is continuing to look for additional language provisions, so if you would like to support please contact [email protected]