Winchester City Council is welcoming refugees who are seeking a safe place due to the ongoing Ukraine crisis.
All information relating to Winchester City Council’s support for Ukrainians is available here
In order to welcome guests from Ukraine, Winchester City Council have created guides in Russian, Ukrainian and English for hosts and refugees which contains a wide range of information.
Throughout the months of October and November Ukrainian guests and their hosts will be able to drop into Winchester City Council support hub to access support and meet in a safe environment. Translation services will be available.
The next dates:
- Tuesday 8 November between 10am to 2pm at the Courtyard, Guildhall Winchester
- Tuesday 6 December between 10am to 2pm at the Courtyard, Guildhall Winchester
Winchester City Council friendly support staff will be available to help with:
- Housing advice: Winchester City Council Housing team
- Accessing job opportunities, information on benefits: Department of Work and Pensions/Job Centre (subject to confirmation)
- General support and advice: Citizens Advice Winchester District (subject to confirmation)
Winchester City Council teams will be able to advise on what support is available and do their best to answer any questions you might have.
You will find the support hub in Winchester city centre at the Guildhall in the Courtyard Room. Please access via the Visitor Information Centre in the high street, a short walk from King Alfred’s statue.
Please email [email protected] if you have any enquiries.
Please note that Winchester City of Sanctuary does NOT give immigration advice. If immigration advice is needed you can use OISC to find a registered immigration advisor near you.
You can also find legal help and immigration advice via the Law Society
The following information and resources may be useful:
Information and resources for supporting Ukrainian refugees in the UK
The Red Cross are providing regular updates on their website where they have lots of helpful information about their response in the UK and more widely in Europe.
The Red Cross have produced an information leaflet for Ukrainian nationals arriving in the UK. It includes information to help Ukrainian nationals who have recently arrived in the UK to better understand some of their rights and entitlements and where they can find out about services they can access.
The Red Cross information for Ukrainian nationals in the UK can be found here this includes information about support for people from Ukraine, including via the family migration visa, the Ukrainian family scheme and the humanitarian sponsorship scheme
The Refugee Council also has lots of useful information, support and advice that can be found here
Doctors of the World UK have produced some excellent resources on access to healthcare in the UK in a range of different languages, including Ukrainian and Russian, available here
Also available on the Doctors of the World UK website are copies of the NHS GP Access card
Travelling to the UK
EUROSTAR are offering Ukrainian nationals travelling to the UK a free Eurostar ticket
National Rail are also offering free travel to Ukrainian refugees. Information is available on the National Rail website in english and Ukrainian.
Volunteer translators and interpreters
A list of volunteer translators and interpreters are available here
The Institute of Translation and Interpretation have put together these Ukrainian translation resources.
Info for employers
If you are an employer, you can offer work to people who have come to the UK from Ukraine. Please see the GOV.UK website here for more information, including contact details for where to register your offer of work.
Missing family in Ukraine
If you are concerned about a family member in Ukraine that may be missing or if someone you are supporting is concerned the Red Cross have information about their Family Tracing Service for those who need to find missing family in Ukraine.