UK poverty charity helps Ukrainian refugees access vital benefits support

National poverty charity Turn2us has expanded its digital tools so Ukrainian refugees arriving in the UK can find out what benefits they are entitled to.

Thousands of Ukrainian refugees will now be able to access vital support thanks to a number of key changes to the charity’s Benefits Calculator.

Turn2us helps more than two million people every year find out what benefits they are eligible for. However the charity identified various points at which it might be hard for Ukrainians who had recently arrived in the UK to use their Benefits Calculator to work out what income they would be entitled to.

As a result, Turn2us improved the usability of their calculator to make sure it was easy to follow for Ukrainian refugees. Changes included adding additional immigration and housing status questions, extra help text prompts and information for refugees who may need to seek further support from their local council.

Anna Stevenson, Senior Welfare Benefits Specialist at Turn2us, says:

“The ongoing situation in Ukraine is worrying for us all but especially for people who have had to leave their homes and seek refuge in other countries. The importance of delivering tools and services which help people fleeing the crisis is more important than ever. The updates to our Benefits Calculator will provide some relief for people arriving in the UK and will additionally help host families find out what benefits support is available. Many people will have left with uncertainty over their futures and very little belongings and money to their name. We hope that being able to find out what income they can access from benefits in a simple and straightforward way, may minimise their initial financial worries.”

Since the changes were made last month, more than 3,000 people who completed the Turn2us Benefits Calculator selected that they are in UK under the Ukrainian Family scheme or the Homes for Ukraine schemes.

The UK government brought in two schemes to enable Ukrainians to come to the UK (the Ukraine Family Scheme and the Home for Ukraine scheme) and introduced emergency regulations to allow them to be able to claim Universal Credit back in March 2022.

People can find out what benefits they could be entitled to via the Turn2us Benefits Calculator, which can be found here: https://benefits-calculator.turn2us.org.uk/