UK Directorate
The UK directorate is responsible for all our service delivery and education activities across the country. It consists of a team of national directors and over 2400 staff and 9000 volunteers. We’re committed to ensuring that everything we do is underpinned by a person-centred approach. We share a humanitarian mission to respond compassionately and impartially to the needs of people in crisis.
Our UK directorate is made up of the following national services with the Insight & Improvement team driving continuous improvement across these services and ensuring we take a robust approach to co-production and embedding the voice of people with lived experience.
Emergency Response
We support people in emergencies and when disasters strike providing practical and emotional support in the moment, working alongside local authorities and other providers. Our Emergency Response activities include:
- Responding to emergencies in the UK, including severe weather, terrorist attacks and fires. More recently also the coronavirus pandemic;
- Setting up and running rest centres in support of local authority responses to major incidents;
- Building community resilience and preparedness where there is greatest risk of an emergency in partnership with other providers including local authorities as part of our auxiliary role to government;
- Providing first aid in the event of an emergency;
- Providing psychosocial support;
- Providing safe environments and support for victims of sexual and gender-based violence and trafficking as they arrive in the UK;
- Supporting the ambulance service through the provision of surge capacity.
Independent Living and Local Crisis Response
We support people to live independently in the face of a health crisis. We offer practical and emotional support and work closely with the NHS to ensure people are able to access health care at critical seasonal points in the year. Our Independent Living and Local Crisis Response activities include:
- Supporting people home from hospital to prevent extended and unnecessary stays, ensuring that people are safe and have basic needs provided for on returning home;
- Providing transport so that people can access essential health care;
- Supporting in the home and companionship for those experiencing loneliness and isolation;
- Supporting skills and confidence building following illness;
- Connecting connectors that link people to networks of support to improve resilience and access to help;
- Working with NHS England to deal with seasonal surges in demand.
Refugee Support
We support refugees, asylum seekers and vulnerable migrants across the UK. We offer care and legal, practical and emotional support when people arrive in the UK regardless of how they get here or their legal status. Our Refugee Support activities include:
- Preventing destitution through cash assistance, basic provisions and travel assistance;
- Preventing homelessness through supporting people, particularly with children, to access safe housing;
- Enabling refugees and asylum seekers to access basic health care, mental health and trauma support and welfare support they are entitled to;
- Supporting asylum seekers to navigate through the immigration system and access legal services;
- Supporting refugees to build skills and accessing employment;
- Supporting refugees and asylum seekers to settle in their communities through orientation; and accessing support networks, education and employment;
Our refugee service works alongside our emergency response teams to provide bespoke support for victims of sexual and gender-based violence and trafficking and works closely with young refugees and unaccompanied minors to ensure their safety and well-being as they settle in the UK.
When people arrive in the UK as a result of trafficking, we work with local police and other responders to provide support through:
- Setting up rest centres;
- Finding accommodation;
- Providing food, cash and basic provisions including clothes;
- Supporting victims to access the national referral mechanism that assists victims of trafficking.
Restoring Family Links
We help people get back in touch with relatives separated by conflict. We do this by working with Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies around the world. The Restoring Family Links service helps people with:
- Looking for family members, restore contact and reunite families;
- Visa applications;
- Travel assistance to bring their families to the UK;
- Settling their families in the UK.
Insight & Improvement
Our Insight & Improvement team:
- Provides insight into vulnerability enabling us to target our services and interventions on those who are most at risk and most in need of assistance;
- Evaluates and track our work and the impact to inform decisions about how we allocate resources and ensure we are accountable;
- Supports our teams to engage and involve people with lived experience so that their voice influences how we design our services and we understand the impact we have for those who we support.