On 17th June, Palladium’s offices in Southampton proudly hosted the first anniversary of the Refugee Employability Programme (REP), the UK Home Office-funded service that helps refugees rebuild their lives through targeted employment support, English language learning, and integration.

As Refugee Week unfolded across the country in honor of all of those seeking sanctuary, the team was joined by over 30 partners, including the Home Office, local authorities, and community groups, who marked the successes achieved in REP’s first year of operation.

In its first year, REP has supported 600 refugees, taught 320+ hours of English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL), and delivered over 1000 interventions in areas like helping refugees find sustainable employment and educational courses benefitting individuals and families. The event was a testament to the success the program has seen in just a year, but also a celebration of the many partnerships across the region that have ensured those successes.

In the UK, over 68,500 asylum seekers were granted refugee status between March 2023 and March 2024.

This is the highest number of people granted status since record keeping began in 1984 and they need support. As the numbers continue to grow, so too do the challenges refugees face in settling into their new home. From increased living costs and shortages of affordable housing, REP has embedded a series of multi-agency support approaches to boost its impact and further address these challenges.

“The REP celebration event was amazing,” says Winnie Mudachi-Ball, REP Case Manager. “The partners that we work with such as local charities, national NGOs and local authorities’ departments, have been instrumental in making REP a success through referring refugees to us and providing additional support. This really motivates me to ensure we spend enough time celebrating what works well and how we can make a difference together.”

The Power of Multi-Agency

But ensuring that refugees new to the UK achieve self-sufficiency and independence can’t be done by one program alone. “The attendance of so many different partners at the REP event is testament to the multi-agency work that happens on the ground,” Becky Brocklehurst, REP Operations Director explains. “Since the program’s inception, we’ve built an extensive network of 175+ relationships, ongoing partnerships, and referral pathways with a range of partners in each location including 36 Job Centers, 13 ESOL Colleges and 56 Local Authorities.”

For a program that covers over 7,000 square miles, mapping the local provision and identifying gaps in needs is as important as nurturing key relationships with decision makers and frontline services alike.

In an effort to assist Afghans settling in the UK, REP has focused on forging partnerships with local organisations. One example is the three-way partnership with an Oxfordshire based regional ESOL provider and a local District Council to best support newly arrived residents with English classes, employment support, and general connections with local services such as health and community activities.

Co-located in the local village hall and serving as a one-stop-shop for a plethora of services, the partnership team are working with 50 Afghan refugees housed in supported accommodation and are busy coordinating how to link local employers, colleges and local training providers to best support that integration piece for all those families in the area.

Place-Based Approach

Establishing a support presence in as many community locations as possible (such as libraries, job centres, and Local Authorities offices) provides an engagement opportunity for all. REP participants can find out about additional services whilst REP Case Managers can quickly connect with vital support services and avoid bouncing individuals with extreme levels of need, and often in survival-mode, from service to service.

“Being located in the same building as Portsmouth Council and only a couple of doors away from the Housing & Homelessness Office has literally been lifesaving for some of my clients,” says Kathleen Smith, Palladium REP Case Manager. “I recently supported a refugee woman with severe mental health and mobility issues in need of accommodation.”

“Because we were so close to the Housing Office, I could refer her immediately for emergency accommodation and my presence was key to best articulate her complex needs so her case could be flagged as an emergency. Thankfully my client avoided homelessness and new accommodation was purposefully found in an area close to her community center, a lifeline for her and others in similar situations.”

The team shares that this is clear across the region where they work. In Reading for example, basing the team in the local public library meant unlocking a series of members benefits for REP participants such as free access to multi-language online study resources for the Driving Theory Test, or Life in the UK practice, free digital skills sessions, and free Chromebooks for loan.

Working with a Future-Focused Lens

The REP and Refugee Week celebration in Southampton ended with a powerful video testimony from several REP participants who shared what ‘home’ means to them, in honor of this year Refugee Week’s theme ‘Our Home’.

As the testimonies reminded attendees of what refugees leave behind in their journey to sanctuary, they also sent a powerful message on how REP and its extensive multi-agency network can help build a future of safety and opportunities to make refugees feel at home.