Landmark scheme to help Ukrainian participants into work in the UK

STEP Ukraine bosses say they are a “motivated, driven, committed workforce” and they are offering them the skills to thrive when they return home in the future.

So far, 1,000 people who fled the conflict in Ukraine and headed to Britain have been helped into work through improving their English language skills in a link-up with the British Council.

A further 9,000 people are being supported through the scheme, which was awarded £9 million from the Department of Levelling Up and Communities, which has since been renamed the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government in 2024.

The scheme celebrated its one year anniversary on August 24th, Ukraine Independence Day.

Paul Anticoni, chief executive of World Jewish Relief, said: "First of all, we have worked in Ukraine for 30 odd years with a particular focus on getting Ukrainians into work.

"We always celebrate the fact if you really want to help somebody helping them earn money is a really critical intervention always coming from the premise as if we were in that situation what would we want.

"We don't really like handing out things or giving people things we really like getting people into work to look after themselves and potentially then help somebody else. That's been the premise of what we and other organisations do.

"We won a contract, it was a £9 million pound contract to assist 10,000 Ukrainians. We haven't needed to utilise all that funding.

"And the contract, we have now enabled an extension of that contract for a further 3,300 clients.

"The recognition and we saw this with the homes for Ukraine and the family reunification scheme opened. This is a very motivated driven committed workforce clearly with the notion that they will go back to Ukraine as and when they can and peace prevails but recognising many are with amazing host families."

He added: "We're seeing almost 10,000 people participating through the programme, already got 1,000 job outcomes. Language improvement is so significant that I hope one recognises that it was a sensible investment, a good gamble to make, and it's paying off, certainly at the moment, for Ukrainian cohorts.

"So we will see those employment numbers go up and up and up as they fulfil their work with their employment advisors. I'd like to think we would see an employment rate of between 30% and 40%.

"Normal employment rates, for the government statistics, employment rates for resettled refugees is normally about 2% to 3% of those that are here find work.

"Right from the start, even pre-arrival we start working on individuals language and employability, integration into your local, your community and British society it's so much easier and you are far more able to find work so that's a bit about that cultural context."

"Whereas other refugee cohorts have gone into hotels and they have got many other things to worry about in some ways rather than able to focus on language and employment right from the start but there is no doubt and we have learned this over many many years.

The organisation has worked with helping people from Syria and Afghanistan who have the right to live and work in the UK.

Out of STEP Ukraine's 120 employment advisors, around 30% have experienced forced migration themselves.

Following Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, millions of Ukrainians were forced to flee their homes and around 170,000 arrived in Britain during March 2023 and faced significant barriers to employment due to limited English proficiency.

The scheme has helped the prominent sculptor Alex Lidagovsky, whose studio was destroyed during the Russian invasion. He has won several high-profile commissions and been accepted into the Royal Society of British Artists.

It has also supported Dr Larisa Zhdankina an expert on the Constitution of Ukraine. Dr Zhdankina has become a visiting academic at the University of Glasgow’s School of Law, and a guest lecturer at the University of Strathclyde, specialising in international human rights and maintaining the rule of law during war.

Mr Anticoni said: "We should celebrate by and large what British society had opened their doors - never underestimate opening your house to somebody you have never met is absolutely incredible.

"We are not trying to get them all into zero-hour contracts picking fruit because those jobs are available but that's not what people want.

"We want to try and find where people are living and are able to fulfil some of their career ambitions."

Mark Walker, Director of English & Exams at the British Council, said: “For many Ukrainians, escaping war and travelling to the UK has only been the first step on a long road to trying to build a new life. We know that learning English opens doors to life-changing opportunities, both in the UK and around the world, and we are pleased to have played our part in delivering this vital programme. To date, more than 10,000 Ukrainians displaced due to the war have had the chance to benefit from intensive English language learning, enhancing their employment prospects and supporting them to live independent lives while they are in the UK. In the coming months, the programme aims to reach more than 3,000 further students.”