Employers will be encouraged to recruit refugees at a special forum in Peterborough

Employers are being urged to help find jobs for more than 200 refugees in Peterborough.

Bosses are being invited to a special forum to be held by the Peterborough Asylum and Refugee Community Association (PARCA) at Unity Hall, in Northfield Road, to generate further interest in its Refugee Work Creation Scheme (RWCS).

During the event, companies’ representatives will hear about the difficulties many refugees experience trying to get into work in the UK and also get a opportunity to meet some of the candidates face-to-face.

Donald MacLarty, the Resttlement VPRS Project Manager at PARCA, said: “We have 250 people – many from Ukraine, Syria as well as young people and adults from Afghanistan - and they all want to work.

"We have doctors, nurses, directors, graphics experts, accountants, admin people and many more and they are all highly skilled.

He said: “For some, their English is not that good but they are attending plenty of intensive courses to learn.

"It really is a willing workforce and we have been preparing them for the workplace through an array of training courses.

"But the real problem is that so many companies demand that applicants apply online yet the system does not recognise the answers given by people who are not from the UK so they never get through the first part of the process.

He added: “So want to cut through all that and get employers together to see if they can consider refugees as direct entrants to the workplace.”

Mr MacLarty said that PARCA’s Refugee Work Creation Scheme had already been successfully trialled in Peterborough with help from retailers M&S and Waitrose.

The business forum will take place on February 15 at Unity Hall from 1pm to 3pm. A 10 minutes presentation will be followed by a chance to network.

Julia Nix, of the East Anglia Jobcentre Plus, said: “This is an excellent idea. Often the problem for employers is a fear of the unknown but this disappears at face-to-face meetings.

"And it comes at a time when we are seeing record levels of vacancies among companies of all types.