The invasion of Ukraine by Russia has caused a huge amount of human suffering. The peoples of Ukraine and the surrounding countries have long known this sort of pain. My grandparents were displaced people from the East of Ukraine (then Poland) during the Second World War. My mother is a refugee who was given a life here in the UK and who throughout her life as a teacher positively impacted tens of thousands of children. Being open hearted and generous to refugees has always been a strength of the British and I hope will continue to be as we help displaced peoples cope with their terrible situations.

That’s why when the government planned to implement a humanitarian scheme for Ukrainians to apply for visas to the UK it seemed like an opportunity for ClearScore to support displaced families in a very practical way. I spoke to ClearScore’s Senior Impact Manager, Cecilia, and asked her to investigate a way for us to contribute. She investigated if we, as a business, could support the scheme in any way and once it opened officially, we registered our interest to join as a business sponsor for Ukrainians refugees.

Having a diverse employee base, we talked to our employees with links to Ukraine and made sure our efforts would resonate, be impactful and be culturally sensitive from their perspective. Despite our interest, the progress to open the scheme to a larger number of sponsors has been slow, and it unfortunately still is. Through an internal contact at ClearScore we were already in conversations with Steve Thavam the founder of KeyStone, a B Corp Certified Social Enterprise supporting homeless families and refugees across the country. KeyStone were keen to make some of their homes available to Ukrainian immigrants coming to the UK and to partner with ClearScore to make this a reality.

After 6 months of coordination, we are so proud to announce that the visa has been approved for a family from Ternopil in western Ukraine. Amazingly and completely by luck this is the town that my grandparents came from. The family have moved into a property in Wigan and ClearScore has committed to fund their accommodation until they can go back to their own home or until the scheme ends.

The family, consisting of mum and dad and their children, 16, 10, and 2 moved into the property in Wigan on the 21st of September. Mum who is a hairdresser and her husband who works in the immigration services are both looking for work in the local area. The boys will continue their education while they are staying in the UK.

We have been impressed by how our employees have stepped up to support Ukraine and Ukrainians in many ways. Some of our employees have taken part in the Homes for Ukraine scheme and hosted individuals in their homes and others have volunteered at community hubs, donated money to appeals or items to collection points.

This conflict has already lasted too long, but ClearScore and ClearScorers will continue to support the people affected in any way we can and encourage everyone to remember that the human cost is real, and that this terrible war is still having a huge impact on people every day it continues.