World Jewish Relief has issued has helped more than 13,000 Ukrainian refugees in the UK via its unique, government-backed STEP programme.
STEP Ukraine is now the UK’s largest employment programme for Ukrainian refugees, and plays a key role in supporting Ukrainians to successfully integrate into UK society.
Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, millions of Ukrainians were forced to flee their homes. By March 2023, approximately 170,000 Ukrainians had arrived in the UK facing significant barriers to employment, primarily due to their limited language skills.
World Jewish Relief, which has a nine-decade history of supporting refugees, launched the STEP Ukraine programme in August 2023, aiming to provide English language and employment training to Ukrainians escaping conflict.
Funded by the UK government, STEP Ukraine has now provided more than 13,000 Ukrainian refugees with intensive English language training and one-to-one employment support, with 99 per cent improving their English language skills. As a result, 65 per cent of participants are currently employed.
Sculptor Alex Lidagovsky
The scheme has aided many remarkable people, including Alex Lidagovsky, a prominent Ukrainian sculptor whose studio was destroyed during the conflict. After being forced to flee from his home, Lidagovsky joined STEP Ukraine and was supported by World Jewish Relief to establish himself in the UK. He has since secured high-profile commissions and was accepted into the prestigious Royal British Society of Artists.
Another success story is Oleksandr Pohodin, who has established a successful boxing gym in Sheffield, after he and his family left Chernivsti, in south-west Ukraine. He was a highly qualified boxer and educator in Ukraine but knew he couldn’t do anything in the UK without improving his English. Enter three intensive months in the STEP Ukraine programme and he was able to open his Yorkshire gym in May 2024.
Fighting spirit: Oleksondr Pohodin in his Sheffield gym
At the heart of the programme’s success is the shared refugee journey of Ukrainians and Jews. Founded in the 1930s, World Jewish Relief played a key role in the Kindertransport, the 1938 rescue operation that saved 10,000 predominantly Jewish children from the Nazis. During the 1940s and 50s, the agency continued to support tens of thousands of Jewish refugees, many of whose records are preserved in its archives.
World Jewish Relief’s chair, Maurice Helfgott, is the son of Sir Ben Helfgott, a Holocaust survivor who was brought to the UK after the war through a scheme devised by the charity. It is this legacy that inspires World Jewish Relief, many decades later, to continue supporting individuals fleeing war.
Paul Anticoni, chief executive of World Jewish Relief, said: “Eighty-six years ago, World Jewish Relief helped 10,000 children escape Nazi-occupied Europe. Today, on the third anniversary of the terrible conflict in Ukraine, I am so proud to share that we have supported more than 13,000 Ukrainians fleeing war to find work in the UK. Inspired by our Jewish history and values, we empower people within and beyond the community to build fulfilling and prosperous lives for themselves: the highest form of tzedakah. The outstanding success of this programme is a testament to the courage and determination of Ukrainians”.
In addition to working with Ukrainian refugees, World Jewish Relief has supported more than 330,000 people inside Ukraine with life-saving and life-changing assistance since the start of the war. To find out more about the Jewish response to conflict, crisis and disaster, visit
www.worldjewishrelief.org.
