London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Wednesday, Oct 29, 2025

Calls for more funding for English classes for Ukrainian refugees

Calls for more funding for English classes for Ukrainian refugees

Language schools and community groups have reported waiting lists of thousands

Language schools and community groups have called on the government to increase funding for free English classes for Ukrainian refugees, saying they are being inundated with applications.

Providers have reported waiting lists of thousands and Ukrainians around the UK joining their online classes because they do not have anything nearby.

Demand has especially gone up in recent weeks, they said, as thousands of newly arrived refugees, many of whom are suffering trauma and have had their former homes destroyed, attempt to set up a new life in the UK.

Access is a particular problem among Ukrainian refugees because as predominantly women and children, a lack of childcare at most classes prevents many of them from attending.

The Ukrainian Institute in London said its waiting list for online and in person classes has more than 5,000 people on it. In Paddington the charity teaches 220 students and they soon have 35 more students starting at another site in west London, where they are also planning to provide childcare.

Maria Montague, the Ukrainian Institute’s deputy director, said: “There is definitely a huge, huge demand that is not being met. The more English schools that are supported, the better.”

The timing of most volunteer-led classes, in evenings and weekends, makes it especially difficult for mothers, she said. “If they can’t bring their kids with them, in general then a lot of the time that means they can’t access it.”

She said classes were available at adult education colleges, but that many did not have places until September, which is too long for many refugees to wait, who need it now.

“English is just absolutely key to every stage of trying to get settled in the UK. It’s absolutely at the core. Students tell us how much they need the English just to be able to go about with their lives,” she said.

WEA, the largest charitable provider of adult education in England and Scotland, said they had seen a significant rise in demand for English classes, which they expected to “grow more and more”. But they have had to use existing government funding to support Ukrainian refugees because they have not received any new funding to pay for it.

Simon Parkinson, the WEA’s chef executive, called for a more “joined up” governmental approach so they can ensure the appropriate resources are in place before an influx of people arrive in a particular part of the country, adding that funding for community-based adult education has been falling for the last 10 years in real terms.

The lack of availability and funding has left voluntary organisations “bridging the gap” with untrained teachers, according to community organisers.

In south London, the White Eagle Appeal has set up weekly English classes at the request of the Ukrainian community.

On Wednesday night, dozens of adults and their children filled the White Eagle Club, a Polish community centre in Balham, for refreshments before dividing up into three groups depending on their English level.

In the beginners class, mainly female students ranging from their 30s to 60s sat around two large tables learning how to introduce themselves in English. The experience is also new for their volunteer teacher who usually works in marketing in the city.

Among the advanced pupils is Anastasia Shilakhtina, 33, a lawyer who moved from Mariupol to Streatham in April with her son Max, nine, who said she needed to improve her English to find good work opportunities. “My city is under Russian control right now, my house is destroyed and I have no choice,” she said.

Liza Aleksyeyeva, an international environmental lawyer from Lviv, started going to the sessions with her six-year-old daughters Yeva and Polina to practise her English. While she speaks fairly fluently, she is not yet confident discussing policy issues for her job.

“Here we said it would be good to have a discussion club to practise speaking English and I’m still looking for other experiences to get to the place where I can talk about policy issues and more important stuff than traffic and cooking and stuff like that.”

In Sheffield, Hayley Nelson, director of Learn for Life Enterprise, which runs a total of 30 in-person and online English classes a week and is teaching around 75 Ukrainians, said they are also seeing huge demand.

“We’re getting people signing up for classes from London, in Wales, in other parts of South Yorkshire,” she said. “They can’t find classes in their area so they’re coming to our classes. And we’ve got women and young children who are attending online because they can’t get childcare.”

They want to put on more classes but first they need to recruit more volunteer teachers.

“There is a need for class provision and funding provision because we’re not getting funding for this,” she said. “We’re just doing that because we think they should be able to learn English when they’ve arrived.”

Urging the government to “catch up with the situation”, she said there should be flexible funding that community organisations can apply for from the government to teach English to new arrivals, adding that any council help would only take them through to the end of July.

The Local Government Association said English classes were not generally provided by councils, saying it was an issue for the government.

According to government guidance, £10,500 per person funding to councils can be used to fund education and skills support.

A government spokesperson said: “The government acted quickly so that all Ukrainian adults and their families could immediately access the same education and childcare as a UK citizen.

“This has included access to education and training funded through the Adult Education Budget, including English for Speakers of other Languages (ESOL) courses. All eligible Ukrainian refugee families can also access our free early education entitlements.”

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
UK Retail Inflation Slows as Shop Prices Fall for First Time Since Spring
Next Raises Full-Year Profit Guidance After Strong Third-Quarter Performance
Reform UK’s Lee Anderson Admits to 'Gaming' Benefits System While Advocating Crackdown
United States and South Korea Conclude Major Trade Accord Worth $350 Billion
Hurricane Melissa Strikes Cuba After Devastating Jamaica With Record Winds
Vice President Vance to Headline Turning Point USA Campus Event at Ole Miss
U.S. Targets Maritime Narco-Routes While Border Pressure to Mexico Remains Limited
Bill Gates at 70: “I Have a Real Fear of Artificial Intelligence – and Also Regret”
Elon Musk Unveils Grokipedia: An AI-Driven Alternative to Wikipedia
Saudi Arabia Unveils Vision for First-Ever "Sky Stadium" Suspended Over Desert Floor
Amazon Announces 14 000 Corporate Job Cuts as AI Investment Accelerates
UK Shop Prices Fall for First Time Since March, Food Leads the Decline
London Stock Exchange Group ADR (LNSTY) Earns Zacks Rank #1 Upgrade on Rising Earnings Outlook
Soap legend Tony Adams, long-time star of Crossroads, dies at 84
Rachel Reeves Signals Tax Increases Ahead of November Budget Amid £20-50 Billion Fiscal Gap
NatWest Past Gains of 314% Spotlight Opportunity — But Some Key Risks Remain
UK Launches ‘Golden Age’ of Nuclear with £38 Billion Sizewell C Approval
UK Announces £1.08 Billion Budget for Offshore Wind Auction to Boost 2030 Capacity
UK Seeks Steel Alliance with EU and US to Counter China’s Over-Capacity
UK Struggles to Balance China as Both Strategic Threat and Valued Trading Partner
Argentina’s Markets Surge as Milei’s Party Secures Major Win
British Journalist Sami Hamdi Detained by U.S. Authorities After Visa Revocation Amid Israel-Gaza Commentary
King Charles Unveils UK’s First LGBT+ Armed Forces Memorial at National Memorial Arboretum
At ninety-two and re-elected: Paul Biya secures eighth term in Cameroon amid unrest
Racist Incidents Against UK Nurses Surge by 55%
UK Chancellor Rachel Reeves Cites Shared Concerns With Trump Administration as Foundation for Early US-UK Trade Deal
Essentra plc: A Closer Look at a UK ‘Penny Stock’ Opportunity Amid Market Weakness
U.S. and China Near Deal to Avert Rare-Earth Export Controls Ahead of Trump-Xi Summit
Justin time: Justin Herbert Shields Madison Beer with Impressive Reflex at Lakers Game
Russia’s President Putin Declares Burevestnik Nuclear Cruise Missile Ready for Deployment
Giuffre’s Memoir Alleges Maxwell Claimed Sexual Act with Clooney
House Republicans Move to Strip NYC Mayoral Front-Runner Zohran Mamdani of U.S. Citizenship
Record-High Spoiled Ballots Signal Voter Discontent in Ireland’s 2025 Presidential Election
Philippines’ Taal Volcano Erupts Overnight with 2.4 km Ash Plume
Albania’s Virtual AI 'Minister' Diella Set to 'Birth' Eighty-Three Digital Assistants for MPs
Tesla Unveils Vision for Optimus V3 as ‘Biggest Product of All Time’, Including Surgical Capabilities
Francis Ford Coppola Auctions Luxury Watches After Self-Financed Film Flop
Convicted Sex Offender Mistakenly Freed by UK Prison Service Arrested in London
United States and China Begin Constructive Trade Negotiations Ahead of Trump–Xi Summit
U.S. Treasury Sanctions Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro over Drug-Trafficking Allegations
Miss USA Crowns Nebraska’s Audrey Eckert Amid Leadership Overhaul
‘I Am Not Done’: Kamala Harris Signals Possible 2028 White House Run
NBA Faces Integrity Crisis After Mass Arrests in Gambling Scandal
Swift Heist at the Louvre Sees Eight French Crown Jewels Stolen in Under Seven Minutes
U.S. Halts Trade Talks with Canada After Ontario Ad Using Reagan Voice Triggers Diplomatic Fallout
Microsoft AI CEO: ‘We’re making an AI that you can trust your kids to use’ — but can Microsoft rebuild its own trust before fixing the industry’s?
China and Russia Deploy Seductive Espionage Networks to Infiltrate U.S. Tech Sector
Apple’s ‘iPhone Air’ Collapses After One Month — Another Major Misstep for the Tech Giant
Graham Potter Begins New Chapter as Sweden Head Coach on Short-Term Deal
Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa Alleges Poison Plot via Chocolate and Jam
×