Business support for Ukraine

BusinessLDN is focused on how the business community can support the Ukrainian refugee effort, both in the short and the longer-term. 

The most immediate need is for financial donations – the GLA has prepared a summary of ways to donate and to support. 

We are working with members and the Government to shape the delivery and iteration of phase one (Homes for Ukraine) and the design of phase two of the humanitarian sponsorship route so that business can play its full part. For this to work, it is critical that as the route evolves, it is:

Easy to navigate with a streamlined application process. 

Explicit about how to bring family members. 

Able to include the option to extend or to switch to other routes over time.

Inclusive of the ability to specify a named person. 

Clear in offering explicit permission to work from arrival. 

Able to formally recognise existing qualifications and professional experience to support refugees into comparable work.

Employing refugees needs to be made more straightforward, full stop. 

Business pledges: 

We have been working with our members and businesses across the country to secure job pledges to support Ukrainians that want to come to the UK. All the companies listed below: 

  • Commit to offering jobs and wider support to Ukrainian refugees under the Homes for Ukraine scheme, working in partnership with others to make sure they are fully supported, given the trauma they will have experienced.
  • Are also committed to working with BusinessLDN and government at all levels to make employing all refugees more straightforward, recognising that many refugees currently in the UK are not in employment.

Businesses ready to play their part in making sure that Ukrainian refugees arriving into the UK are fully supported. With vacancies across the whole economy, businesses can offer access to tens of thousands of jobs.

“Launching the Homes for Ukraine scheme is an important milestone, and firms will coordinate with their staff, community groups and others to support humanitarian efforts, as well as working with the Government to design the direct sponsorship route

John Dickie, Chief Executive, BusinessLDN

Commitments:

We are delighted to be supporting BusinessLDN with their vital work in helping Ukrainian refugees in London with the provision of jobs and wider support under the Homes for Ukraine scheme. This is one of a number of steps that our firm is taking globally to support people displaced by the crisis in Ukraine.

This pledge will not just be limited to the current crisis and will look to ensure that the future employment of all refugees is more straightforward and better supported, recognising that many skilled refugees currently in London are not in employment, at a time when the skills shortage is hampering the capital’s ability to grow.

Anna Purchas, London Office Senior Partner & Regional Chair, KPMG LLP

Canary Wharf Group pledges to work with refugee agencies to identify roles for Ukranian refugees with relevant skills and experience

Shobi Khan, Chief Executive Officer, Canary Wharf Group

We were delighted to be asked by BusinessLDN to support this initiative and of course will do all we can to help Ukrainian refugees under the Homes for Ukraine scheme

Ronald Kers, CEO, BHL Holding/2 Sisters Food Group

Next steps and further information:

We are working with the Government and regional business groups across the country on how to better feed offers of employment into phase one, and on the design of phase two. If you want to find out more, email Josh McLean.

Information on the Homes for Ukraine Scheme is available on the government’s dedicated website here. Offers of employment can now be registered here.

Latest news and resources 

A consortium of business leaders from across the North have joined forces to create a platform to advertise job vacancies for Ukrainian refugees. The United For Ukraine website provides a searchable list of open opportunities, which businesses can contribute to here. 

Organisations like Breaking Barriers have experience of supporting businesses to hire refugees. This guide gives an overview of their activity and how to get involved. 

For any businesses who want to support the provision of free English lessons for Ukrainian refugees, see this appeal from the Invicta Academy.

We support the asks made by British Future and More in Common in this report on Home for Afghans, including the need for a broad organisational sponsorship route to be established as soon as possible.

The Tent Partnership for Refugees is a not-for-profit organisation set up to mobilise the global business community to include refugees. It makes all its resources available for free, so if you would like to find out more, please visit Tent.

Talent Beyond Boundaries has created a helpful programme overview for employers to hire displaced talent in the UK, read here.