World Jewish Relief has been awarded a major UK Government contract to support up to 10,000 Ukrainian refugees across the UK to access the jobs market and make it easier for them to live independent lives in the UK.

The contract was announced on Ukraine’s Independence Day, August 24, by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities and will enable the charity to offer intensive English language and employment support courses.

It was awarded to WJR in partnership with the British Council following an open tender process.

The scheme, called “STEP Ukraine”, will be free to participants and delivered virtually to maximise accessibility for Ukrainians with young children, caring responsibilities or shift work.

It will be comprised of ten weeks of daily two-and-a-half-hour English classes run by the British Council, and 12 weeks of employment support with a dedicated WJR employment adviser who will assist with CV writing, job searching and applications, interview prep, and specialist workshops.

To deliver STEP Ukraine, WJR will scale up its existing Specialist Training and Employment Programme (STEP), which was launched in 2016 to support Syrian refugees on their journey to employment.

It is now the UK’s largest provider of employment support to refugees, supporting 1,500 people a year.

Paul Anticoni, chief executive of WJR, said he was proud that WJR has been picked to deliver this “crucial” programme.

He added: “It’s a ringing endorsement of the unique talent and expertise we have within the team at World Jewish Relief as well as the close working relationships we have built with our partners on the ground in Ukraine over the last 30 years.

“This appointment would also not have been possible without the unfailing support of Ukrainians in their time of need by the wider UK Jewish Community.”

WJR’s Ukraine Crisis Appeal has, since launching in February 2022, reached over 236,000 people in 224 towns and cities across war-torn Ukraine with emergency relief and long-term support. The STEP programme has achieved a 40 per cent emplyment rate.

World Jewish Relief, one of the Jewish community’s leading humanitarian agencies, was created 90 years ago to support German Jews living under Nazi rule.