Our Social Impact
Neighbours Welcome: Providing a safe haven for Ukrainians
When Russia invaded Ukraine in early 2022, it sparked a humanitarian crisis. Hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians fled their homeland and sought shelter elsewhere in Europe.
Governments mobilised quickly to cut through red tape and allow Ukrainian citizens to seek refuge in their countries, and many people opened up their homes to house Ukrainian women and children who desperately needed support.
Watching the crisis unfold from Guildford, Surrey, a group of British and Ukrainians living locally wanted to combine their professional expertise to do their bit to help. Through an informal network of volunteers and some software developed for the purpose, they started offering whatever support they could to help match Ukrainian refugees with people in the UK willing to provide accommodation and assistance to those families that made it to these shores.
One of the group, Nicholas Harrison, a barrister at Serle Court, realised that the project could make far more impact if the community group was set up as a charity. “So I called Graeme Kleiner, Head of the Private Wealth Disputes team at Charles Russell Speechlys, and told him what we were planning and he immediately said ‘we’d be delighted to try and help’. He put me in touch with the Firm’s Pro Bono Associate, Sarah Farrelly who connected me with the Charities team.” Given the wish to set up a suitable legal entity as quickly as possible, the Charities team at Charles Russell Speechlys advised Nicholas that initially it made more sense to incorporate a charitable company at Companies House, rather than to seek to establish a charitable incorporated organisation which would only come into existence when registered with the Charity Commission. Once the registration of the charitable company as a charity with the Charity Commission was completed, it could then apply to the Charity Commission to convert it into a charitable incorporated organisation.
“There's no way we could have done any of this without Charles Russell Speechlys. We just didn't have the expertise, nor did any other firm in the area.”
Nicholas Harrison, Joint Chair of Trustees, Neighbours Welcome
Legal expertise
The charity, which is called Neighbours Welcome, has been created in the first instance to assist Ukrainian refugees, but has been structured in a way that will enable it to extend its activities to help refugees from other countries in the future.
“Penelope Byatt and Octavia Morgan at Charles Russell Speechlys have both been incredibly helpful, and we're extremely grateful to them,” says Nicholas. “We could have done some of the things informally on our own, but in order to do it properly, in order to establish a long-term organisation, which will hopefully help refugees down the line, we had to set up a charity and do it quickly, which we couldn’t have done without their support.” Penelope Byatt, Associate, says: “I'm a Charity lawyer and I'm passionate about trying to help grant-making charities that can make a huge difference to people’s lives. So it's amazing to be involved with advising charities like Neighbours Welcome in this way.”
Immigration team assists unaccompanied minor Ukrainian girls escape warzone
In addition to our assistance for Neighbours Welcome our lawyers have been advising two individuals in their efforts to flee Ukraine. In February 2022, Rose Carey, Partner, and Ilze Jacobs, Paralegal, of the Immigration team were instructed to provide pro bono assistance to two unaccompanied minor Ukrainian girls with their applications under the new Ukraine Visa Schemes to come to the UK.
The girls had become separated from their parents and fled from Kyiv, travelling through the warzone alone. One of the girls was able to apply under the Ukraine Family Scheme and the other girl was able to find a sponsor in the UK under the Homes for Ukraine Scheme. They faced a number of unique legal challenges during the course of the visa applications and multiple delays, however the Immigration team were able to achieve successful outcomes for both, with one of the clients having arrived in the UK in July and the other followed in August when she turned 18.
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