Refugee Finance Professionals

Accountancy is seen by many refugees as a viable new career in the UK, in part because of the consistent demand for individuals with financial skills in the labour market and in part because of the perception that this area requires less fluency in English. With determination and support it is possible to succeed, as shown by many successful refugee stories. Habte Hagos (pictured left) has succeeded in this journey and has held senior posts in the third and public sectors. He is currently Finance Director at the Institute of Education.

Finance professionals remain, anecdotally, a large un- or underemployed cohort within the refugee population. Tailored provision to support them is difficult to find, is not coordinated and there is no strong evidence base to indicate how many refugee finance professionals there are.

Coherent pathways have been developed for professionals from the health and education sector to return to employment. These have latterly been developed around ‘hubs’ (specialist partnerships) and funding has been secured from Government to develop them further. Specialist pathways and hubs also form part of the vision for refugee integration in London and are outlined in the Mayor’s refugee integration strategy, ‘London Enriched’.

Employability Forum published 'Counting on Success' in August 2009 with support from Trust for London (then City Parochial Foundation), KPMG and specialist voluntary agencies. This is an initial review of work to support refugee finance professionals and outlines the barriers that refugees face in returning or entering the profession.

A Task Group to implement the report's recommendations has now been established and is chaired by the Association of Accounting Technicians.

Key aims of the Group are to:

• develop better information for refugees wishing to enter the profession.
• identify practical solutions to a) the difficulties refugees experience in accessing employment and training and b) the challenges faced by employers wishing to employ refugees.

For more information please contact Beryl Randall.