The Refugee Council is a leading charity working with refugees and people seeking asylum in the UK. Founded in 1951, following the creation of the UN Refugee Convention, we exist to support those who come to the UK in need of safety and we speak out for compassion, fairness and kindness.

In 2020-21 we worked with more than 13,000 women, men and children, supporting them to get legal help, to live with dignity and independence contributing to their communities, and to improve their emotional wellbeing.

In recent years, we have expanded our services to provide therapeutic support to refugee children and adults, working in successful employment partnerships for refugees with the NHS, Starbucks and ServiceNow, and supporting refugee children who come to the UK alone to get the help they so desperately need.

Drawing on the evidence from our services, we have fought hard to achieve policy changes that make tangible differences for refugees. This includes:

• Successfully challenging the government’s approach to deciding the age of young people seeking asylum. This ensured that children should no longer mistakenly be treated as adults.
• Leading the campaign that resulted in the government commitment to resettle 20,000 people displaced by the horrific war in Syria here in the UK.

We are very proud of all we have achieved, working with some of the most marginalised and traumatised people in our communities. In the coming years, as we work with refugees and like-minded partners, we are committed to having an even greater impact in all we do.