Working with other organisations to support employment and peer to peer support

MS (Egypt) attended our drop-ins regularly for many months before getting a positive decision on his asylum claim in April 2025. He had previously submitted an appeal against a negative decision but the decision was overturned before going to Court. So he has been in the Asylum Process for some time.
MS is a very capable 35 year old man, with a background in Financial Management in Egypt.

Like most refugees we support, MS was desperate to work as soon as he got his positive decision, as his life had been on hold for so long. Although he would like to pursue a career in finance, he has been realistic about his English language level and how this might impact his career prospects in the short term.

MS worked with REED to access the SIA course for people wanting to work in Security. He completed the training for the course successfully but then needed to apply for the 'SIA Badge'. Without this Badge, security jobs are limited to lower level (often unpaid) jobs like marshalling at football matches.

There are two aspects to applying for the SIA Badge:

1. Getting a lawyer to certify your identity and signature. 
2. Submitting a Character Reference.

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MS came to our drop-in on 13th January for urgent help as he needed to complete the application within a 2 week window. He had paid a lawyer to certify his identity and signature but could not complete the Character Reference part of the application. There are special arrangements for Refugees - they have to provide a Character reference from a Social Worker or a Refugee Case Worker. He is a very resourceful man but had been unable to complete the final part in the process.

We did not think that an HWR volunteer would be accepted as a 'Refugee Case Worker' so we contacted a colleague in the MIND Flourish team and explained the situation. She was happy to help, particularly as HWR had known MS over many months. 

The Character Reference was provided on time, and MS is now able to work in all types of Security jobs. 

At the drop-in centre on 10th February, HWR was approached by another young man MJKA from Kuwait who is also looking to complete the Security Industry Authority (SIA) process. He had been looking for help from many different agencies but was struggling to understand how best to proceed.

HWR contacted MS to ask if he would be able to provide some informal advice. He was very happy to help and the two men (both Arabic) speakers were introduced over email. They were in immediate contact and HWR received the following message from MJKA:

'Thank you for that, He helped me a lot many thanks.'

We are now thinking about how we can leverage this type of peer-to-peer support in the future.