Routes to Employment
An applied research project tackling system change in unemployment for refugee and asylum-seeking women
In 2023, the Routes to Employment (RtE) initiative kicked off with the support of Propel Explore funding. Our team embarked on a research project aimed at tackling the systemic issue of unemployment within the refugee women's community in London. This journey was a learning experience for our team, involving engagement with stakeholders at three levels: individuals, women with lived experience of the UK asylum system; sector, organisations within the refugee charity sector; and businesses, as employers and key players in the systemic issue.
Our research incorporated both quantitative and qualitative data, collected through surveys, workshops, meetings, and literature reviews. The findings provided deep insights, enriching our understanding of the unemployment and underemployment challenges faced by refugee women, inspiring us to innovate and drive systemic change.
Routes to Employment:
The Research
Photo from a session with refugee and asylum-seeking women, as part of our Routes to Employment Research Project. Please download the research report below.
10 Key Challenges faced by women from refugee and asylum-seeking backgrounds when accessing meaningful employment
Refugees face unemployment at a rate 4x higher than the general population, with women facing even higher levels due to the intersectional discrimination of migration status and gender.
Around 30% of asylum seekers are women, but nearly all support services are designed for the male majority, leaving women's specific needs ignored and unmet.
The current ESOL system is inefficient and lacks professionalism. There are concerns about overcrowding, slow advancement through the levels, and teachers having a limited awareness of refugee backgrounds and a focus on refugees passing exams just to secure funding, rather than a genuine care to improve English language skills.
In initial and temporary accommodation, women report corruption, favouritism, harassment, and discrimination due to a lack of professionalism or training amongst its staff members. There is a high risk of facing further abuse due to a lack of protection and awareness on how to report these abuses.
For further reading on this, we would like to highlight the report ‘Coercion and Control: the treatment of women seeking asylum in hotel accommodation’ by Women for Refugee Women.
Job centres have a limited understanding of the asylum system and refugee backgrounds, leading to job fairs offering little valuable advice, underpaid jobs, and an underestimation of the unique skills and work experiences that refugees bring.
There is no centralised, translated resource giving information on rights and access to employment support services for asylum seekers in the UK.
Employers have a lack of awareness of the asylum system, work permits and housing issues; and they often reject refugee applications due to concerns over legality.
There is a variety of employment support available across London, by both local councils and third sector organisations. However, many organisations face challenges when connecting with businesses to build employment programs for refugees, as did Routes during this research. Individuals also have difficulty finding access to join workplaces, even when there is funding available through employment support programmes.
Longer periods out of employment, including due to the limitations on the right to work, affect confidence and self-esteem. It is difficult to demonstrate suitability for a job when previous work experience was longer ago, or outside of the UK and not immediately recognised as relevant.
Women from refugee and asylum-seeking backgrounds have strong experiences, expertise and suggestions on how to improve the UK asylum system, as well as employment structures and employment support.
Apprenticeships are a great way for refugee women to gain practical work experience and qualifications at the same time.
Our research led us to explore this further as
a potential pathway into meaningful employment.
Our key findings on Apprenticeships:
The normal eligibility criteria for non-UK-born apprentices to have lived in the UK for 3 years does not apply to refugees and others with relevant status. This exemption is unknown to most providers, trainers, and sector organisations. However, it allows for greater access to apprenticeships for the refugee community.
There is a significant lack of access to apprenticeship support within third sector organisations, including through the lack of awareness of this criteria exemption.
Apprenticeships may be seen by some as an expensive pathway to employment, with funding decreasing for individuals over 25. However, funding is available for organisations hosting an apprentice, as is additional support. Moreover, there is an existing infrastructure in the UK for both employers and apprentices of different age groups, which is a great starting point for more inclusive workplaces.
Find out about the Pre-Apprenticeship Course we developed and delivered to support more refugee and asylum-seeking women to enter apprenticeships.
Update: In the Government Guidance for Apprenticeship Funding Rules for August 2025 to July 2026, it was outlined that asylum-seekers (with or without the right to work) can no longer access apprenticeship funding. This makes campaigns like Lift the Ban by refugee leadership all the more relevant - for those who can work, to have the right to work. Despite common misconceptions and misinformation, many people who are asylum-seekers in the UK would like to be able to access the labour market and contribute, but they are prevented from doing so. This is counterproductive to everyone involved - and leaves a whole talent pool of people unable to be part of workplaces.
Note: our Research Report was written before this update to the Government Guidance. Any policy changes regarding apprenticeship funding structures - or wider changes within the UK asylum system - are not reflected in our Research Report, which was published before the changes