Step Ukraine

In February 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine. In the months that followed, more than 6.3 million Ukrainians left their homes and hundreds of thousands of people, largely women and children, arrived in the UK. Many of these people did not speak English and this impacted on their ability to find meaningful work to support their families. World Jewish Relief has supported refugees fleeing persecution for more than 90 years and has been working in Ukraine with local communities for more than 30 years. After the war began, World Jewish Relief was officially recognised as an agency within the Homes for Ukraine scheme, and, in partnership with the British Council, launched STEP Ukraine to provide specialist training, employment and language support to thousands of Ukrainian refugees in the UK. This programmes is funded by the UK Government and support is completely free to participants. The impact of this programme has been vast, with one participant saying: “Without the support I received on STEP Ukraine, there’s no way I would’ve got my dream job today!”.

Currently, over 8,000 Ukrainians have been through the programme, with 91% seeing improvements in their English and more than 700 people securing meaningful work in the UK.