A new partnership - Progress GB – to help employers overcome skill shortages and support refugees and migrants develop and adapt their skills for the UK labour market, will be launched today (16 June).

The move follows research by the National Institute of Adult Continuing Education (NIACE), which showed that while refugees and migrants have a wide range of skills and qualifications in a variety of professions, they frequently experience unemployment or only gain low-skilled, casual work.

At the same time many employers in the UK are struggling to fill vacancies, particularly in areas such as construction, transport, engineering and health and social care.

Research from the Home Office has also revealed that it takes an average of 20 years for migrants in the UK to reach the same level of employment as UK-born workers with similar skills.

Sue Waddington, Progress GB Project Leader, said, “Refugees and migrant workers are often highly skilled and highly motivated but can find it very difficult to find progress in the UK workplace. Progress GB will be able to develop new approaches to benefit both employers and refugees across the UK. We will help refugees into jobs, predominately where there is a current shortage of skilled workers."

Jean Kouchou Fondjo, a civil engineer, originally from Cameroon, said: “This project will be very helpful for people like me, as it will enable us to gain recognition for our skills and find work that makes use of those skills.”

Progress GB is led by NIACE. Three new language advice lines will be set up by Ufi/learndirect to enable refugees and migrants to gain information about relevant courses.