We are proud to share our Voices in Exile 2025 Impact Report, highlighting the collective impact of our staff, volunteers, partners, supporters, and the incredible resilience of the people we work alongside every day.
Over the past year, we supported more than 1,000 refugees, asylum seekers, and migrants at risk across Brighton and Sussex through specialist immigration advice, homelessness prevention, food provision, ESOL classes, employability support, wellbeing groups, and wraparound resettlement services.
At a time when refugees and migrants continue to face increasingly hostile policies, rising homelessness, and barriers to safety and stability, this report reflects both the growing need within our communities and the importance of compassionate, community-led support.
A year of impact
In 2025, Voices in Exiles:
- Supported 1,009 clients across our services
- Provided immigration advice and support to 364 people
- Supported 770 clients through our generalist advice and casework service
- Delivered 70 outreach sessions in asylum hotels and homelessness settings
- Supported around 45 people each term through our weekly wellbeing, ESOL, and orientation groups
- Provided practical support to around 115 households through our food bank
- Distributed over £50,000 in hardship funding to people facing crisis situations
Alongside these figures are the personal stories that sit at the heart of our work. Throughout the report, service users, volunteers, and staff share their experiences of rebuilding their lives, finding community, and supporting others in turn.
One service user reflected:
“Voices in Exile helped us build the confidence to start a new life here.”
Another shared:
“The most important thing for me was simple. Someone cared about me. I felt it.”
Supporting people beyond crisis
As well as meeting urgent needs, the report highlights our growing focus on long-term wellbeing, inclusion, and systems change.
This year, we strengthened our campaigning and influencing work locally and nationally, advocating for:
- The right to work for people seeking asylum
- Safe and legal routes
- Improved housing and move-on support
- Better mental health provision
- A more compassionate and fair asylum system
We also launched new initiatives focused on lived experience leadership, participation, anti-racism, and community engagement, ensuring the voices of the people we support continue to shape our work and future direction.
The people behind the work
The impact highlighted in this report is made possible through the commitment and expertise of our staff team, alongside the contribution of volunteers, partners, funders, and supporters across Sussex and beyond.
This year alone, around 50 volunteers contributed more than 5,500 hours of support across our food bank, ESOL classes, casework teams, administration, communications, and resettlement services — complementing the day-to-day work of staff delivering specialist advice, advocacy, outreach, and frontline support.
We are deeply grateful to everyone who makes this work possible and who continues to stand alongside refugees, asylum seekers, and migrants in our community.
Read the full report
Our 2025 Impact Report shares more about the realities facing refugees and migrants today, the impact of our services, and the stories of the people who make Voices in Exile what it is.
Read the full report here: Impact Report 2025