Our charity is driven by a small but dedicated team of staff and trustees who are passionate about creating safe and supportive pathways for refugees and asylum seekers as they rebuild their lives.
We rely heavily on volunteers to help us deliver our work in a range of roles including advice and casework support; resettlement project casework; one-to-one mentoring (including accompanying and advocacy); ESOL language support; ESOL classroom assistants; and backroom core functions including HR, administration, fundraising and finance.
Our Leadership team
Voices in Exile is led by our Director, Alison Kelly. Since becoming Director in mid-2025, Alison has flagged two new priorities for Voices: better centring of the voices of lived experience in our work, and the development of our campaigning and advocacy work, to improve client access to services and push back against anti-migrant narratives.
Alison works in close partnership with our Board of Trustees and Lived Experience Advisory Group, and is supported by our internal operational teams.
Our Advice and Casework team
Our Advice and Casework team is led by Beth and helps people navigate complex systems and access the rights and services they’re entitled to. We work exclusively with vulnerable and/or destitute migrants, asylum seekers and refugees who have no recourse to public funds or the means to pay for private legal advice.
Esme, Helen and Daniel are our 3 Immigration Caseworkers, accredited to provide specialist immigration advice up to OISC Level 2. The team provides advice and casework including initial applications to the Home Office and up to, but not including, appeals to the Tribunal. We remain the only provider of free, regulated, out-of-scope immigration advice in the region. Our immigration casework is essential for those people who would otherwise be unable to access justice.
Our Generalist Advice team, made up of Harriet and Giulia, provide advice, casework and advocacy around housing, welfare, benefits, destitution, Section 17, Care Act, financial inclusion, health, wellbeing, skills and development. We undertake outreach across the Brighton and Hove area, offer one-off advice via our helpline, and facilitate access to our Food Bank for those in need.
Led by our Groups Facilitator, Hayat, a qualified English teacher with lived experience of migration, our groups help our clients to improve their English language skills, navigate local services and build confidence, social connections, and employability skills.
Our Advice and Casework team regularly present case studies and client experiences at network meetings to influence local and regional policy. Our team also provides training to external organisations on how to support people with refugee status, seeking asylum and migrants with compassion and best practice. We support many people in the city living in asylum accommodation who might otherwise be left without access to help.
Our Advice and Casework team undertake activities including:
- Regularly presenting case studies and client experiences at network meetings to influence local and regional policy
- Advocating for the voice of lived experience to be centre of conversation at network meetings
- Providing training to external organisations on how to support people with refugee status seeking asylum and migrants, with compassion and best practice
- Supporting many people in the city living in asylum accommodation who might otherwise be left without access to help
Our Resettlement team
Voices in Exile has held the Brighton and Hove City Council contract for providing casework to refugees on resettlement schemes in Brighton and Hove since 2016, ensuring that refugees arriving through government schemes can settle, build community, and become independent.
Our Resettlement team is led by Jacquie and made up of Becca, Betty, Fay and Jamal who each work with families for a period of 2 years. We support people to access the services they need and are entitled to, including benefits and healthcare, help them to establish accounts and pay bills, understand their budgets, access social opportunities, and settle into their new community and build the skills and confidence they need to thrive in the UK.
A key part of this process is the weekly groups we run to help people find their way around the city and its services, practice English and improve wellbeing. Debra and Shir Mohammed are our employed ESOL and Employability Tutors, and several volunteers facilitate our one-to-one and group lessons.
Our Food Bank team
We run a weekly food bank offering short-term support for destitute clients who are struggling across Brighton and Hove. Our Food Bank Coordinator, Stephen, manages our wonderful team of food bank volunteers supporting on average 115 individuals including around 60 children at any given time.
We support families from Syria, Yemen, Albania, Sudan, Senegal, Nigeria, Afghanistan and many more. Stephen, supported by our Collection Coordinator, Colin, work with generous local businesses, organisations and individual donors, making sure service users receive the supplies they need.
