M&S and Asos back employment pledge for Ukrainian refugees

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A consortium of British businesses is in talks with the government to offer employment and accommodation to refugees fleeing Ukraine.

A group of more than 45 large businesses, including Marks & Spencer, Asos, Lush and recruitment firm Robert Walters, is pressing the government to provide support for people escaping Russia’s invasion of Ukraine to come to the UK, amid criticism of the speed and scale of its response to the crisis.

The initiative, first reported by The Sunday Times, is being led by British entrepreneur and chief executive of Enterprise Alumni Emma Sinclair. Although the project is still in its early stages, it is understood Sinclair has gained a lot of support in a short space of time, with more high street firms in talks to join the coalition over the weekend.

The details of how this initiative would work in practice are unclear but the aim is to help “tens of thousands” of refugees to get jobs in the UK, as well as help them find accommodation and gain language skills.

Asos is exploring whether it could offer displaced Ukrainians IT engineering roles in the UK given the country’s proficiency in tech, while recruiters for Lush are meeting with the Refugee Council charity this week to understand the processes it needs to put in place to bring refugees into its workforce.

M&S said: “We are absolutely committed to supporting Ukrainian refugees through our humanitarian response underway with our charity partners and with jobs.”

Major UK grocers are looking at ways to offer roles for Ukrainian refugees, varying from positions at Morrisons’ butchers, fishmongers and warehouses to jobs on Sainsbury’s tech and online grocery teams.

Last week, Tesco made 1,400 roles available for refugees across its Central Europe business and the Co-op said it would welcome applications from refugees for its 3,300 vacancies.