About Us

In January 2018, a small group of 15 delivery organisations met in London to discuss some of the common challenges they were facing and how collaboration could effectively overcome these challenges.

After meeting regularly over the following 6 months, these organisations agreed the need for a co-ordinating body focused on delivering a shared vision of ensuring every refugee in the UK is able to access appropriate, fulfilling, paid employment or self-employment.

From these small beginnings, the Refugee Employment Network (REN) was born. The network formally launched in January 2019 with a summit attended by over 80 organisations and a renewed mandate to drive collaboration between organisations offering livelihood assistance for refugees in the UK. Since then, REN has been focused on building a membership network that is able to move the sector forward – united by the vision of a UK that is able to provide meaningful employment opportunities for refugees.