Filip Slipaczek, a chartered financial planner, has offered his house in Poland to families fleeing the war-torn country, while Phil Billingham and his wife Shannon Currie, managing directors of Perceptive Planning, have driven a van full of supplies to Przemyśl, a transit point in southern Poland next to the border.
Cameron Penny, a director at financial services PR firm Montieth & Company, has dropped off supplies in Hrebenne - a refugee camp on the border between Poland and Ukraine. He then drove to Lviv, where he helped two families escape a city in dire need of food, tents and temporary homes.
Now is the time to forget about the Caribbean holidays, plush leased offices and top-of-the-range cars. Now is the time to put your hands in your pocket.Filip SlipaczekAccording to Slipazeck, he now has 22 Ukrainians living in his home (pictured, below) in the Tatra Mountains next to a village called Szczawa, an hour's drive from Poland’s second-largest city, Krakov.
Slipaczek was born in the UK, but is a Polish citizen and has family from Ukraine. The 63-year-old said: “I’m so proud to be a Pole because my country has taken in over 1mn refugees without asking for any documentation."
After weeks of criticism, yesterday (March 14) the UK government announced its new visa scheme, in tandem with its Ukraine Sponsorship Scheme which allows people in the UK to host Ukrainian refugees for at least six months. Households will be paid £350 a month, tax free, per residential address.
As of yesterday, Home Office figures showed some 4,000 visas had been granted through this new route. Less than a week prior, the UK had issued just 500 visas to Ukrainian nationals seeking sanctuary, while neighbours on the continent had taken in tens of thousands of refugees.
Home Office secretary Priti Patel has defended her “embarrassing” and “slow” response to the crisis - words used by London Mayor Sadiq Khan and Labour leader Keir Starmer - by citing the need for national security checks on those crossing the UK border.
I’ve never seen a refugee camp. It’s really quite upsetting. It’s really grim. There’s tents everywhere.Cameron PennyHome Office spokesperson said: “We stand shoulder to shoulder with Ukraine and the changes we’ve made to the visa process will make it quicker and simpler for Ukrainians with valid passports to come here, as well as ensuring those already here can stay.
“We have expanded capacity at our Visa Application Centres to 13,000 appointments a week, deployed additional staff across the EU and increased the number of people working on our 24/7 helpline in place to ensure those who need appointments can get them to come here.
“This week our sponsorship route will open to allow Ukrainians with no family ties to the UK to come here and we will continue to work closely with our Ukrainian partners to deliver the measures we have put in place.”
Some of Slipaczek’s existing clients have also chipped in to help fund the 25 Ukrainians living in his house with essential supplies.
“Believe it or not, many of our existing clients, having heard what we are doing without being informed officially, have offered assistance,” he said. “The last two days (March 9,10), we’ve had four offers of help.”
Calling on his fellow peers, Slipaczek addressed the industry: “With the disgrace of the British Steel debacle, when we thought the profession had cleaned up its act, we’re still perceived to be pariahs.
“Now is the time to forget about the Caribbean holidays, plush leased offices and top-of-the-range cars. Now is the time to put your hands in your pocket.”
‘I wasn’t prepared for what I saw’
Penny, who is 37, set out alone to take supplies to Poland. Having stocked up on things like paper plates, disposable cups, energy bars, and power cord extensions from a Lidl in Germany, he headed to Chelm, a Polish city some 25 kilometres from the Ukrainian border.
In all, the journey covered 1,000 miles of road and took him 23 hours. After starting to unload his supplies at a church, Penny was told: ‘We’ve got too much’. “In some areas, there’s been a huge outpouring [of support] which is great,” he explained.
This prompted Penny to drive to Hrebenne, a border crossing in Poland. “I’ve never seen a refugee camp,” said Penny. “I wasn’t prepared for what I saw. It’s really quite upsetting. It’s really grim. There’s tents everywhere, by the road.”
I just looked around the kitchen and thought ‘I’ve got holiday owed, I can pay for my accommodation, I’ve got a car, there’s no barrier’.Cameron PennyA man at a soup station directed Penny to a donation drop-off point, after which he decided to drive to Lviv, the largest city in western Ukraine which is 44 miles from the Polish border, in order to give families a lift out of the country.
Penny gave a mother and her daughter a lift, as well as a family of three, out of the city. He said the queue to Poland was nine miles long, with checkpoints, guns, anti-tank traps, and bunkers everywhere, as pictured below. “You edged forward a metre or a car length, it was very slow.”
Lots of people do not have the luxury of a vehicle in Ukraine, according to Penny. “I saw people walking to the border with pets, children and their belongings in minus 2 and 3 degrees at night.”
Penny dropped one family off in mainland Poland, while he dropped the other off in Germany. He left Lviv on March 7. Later that week, Russian missiles hit a military base next to the city killing 35 people.
Asked why he set off on his journey, Penny said: “I just looked around the kitchen and thought ‘I’ve got holiday owing, I can pay for my accommodation, I’ve got a car, there’s no barrier’. I can either sit here [...] and not do anything, or I can get up and do something.”
‘We were struck by dearth of UK number plates’
Meanwhile, partners Billingham, 61, and Currie, 50, raised £4,500 with the help of fellow planners and advisers which they used to pack a rental van full of supplies (pictured below) such as sleeping bags, leaving room to stock up on supermarket supplies once they were near the refugee camps.
“People have been astonishing. It’s not all about us at all. It’s the kids who have collected. The people who have given. We’re just the front engine,” said Billingham. “100 sleeping bags will just go. We’ve taken what we can, but they need more.”
Currie added: “It’s not about us, we just drove the van containing lots of people’s kindness. Which has been an honour and a privilege.”
The couple set off on March 10, driving through Germany to Przemyśl, one of Poland’s oldest southern cities. After dropping off the van with Przemyśl's city council, the couple bought what they could from the local supermarket, dropping off water and juice for children at the station.
“It’s been humbling to see the support for the Ukrainian refugees in Poland. Signs on the motorways giving numbers to call, and signs showing solidarity. Despite the influx of 1.5mn people,” they said.
Poland’s intake of Ukrainian refugees has made up more than half of the 2.8mn in total who have fled the country so far.
Our ability to comply did actually help at the Polish end.Phil BillinghamBillingham and Currie were, however, let down by how few Brits they encountered on their trip. “We have been struck and disappointed by the dearth of UK number plates. I think the hostility shown by HMRC and border patrol to people trying to do this has taken its toll. I hope that is now changing,” said Billingham.
The day the couple set off, HMRC announced a customs easement for those moving aid and donations to the people of Ukraine. This has seen the UK taxman remove the need to complete and submit electronic customs declarations to HMRC before exporting goods, and the need to notify HMRC when the goods have been exported.
A HMRC spokesperson said: “We continue to provide help and support to individuals and organisations exporting humanitarian aid to the people of Ukraine. We have made it easier to move aid and donations to those affected by the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine by simplifying customs processes.” At present, government guidance is to donate money through the Disasters Emergency Committee or other trusted charities.
“One reason we were able to push through the red tape was that as advisers we have had decades of regulation. For everyday church groups, it’s been a real barrier for them,” said Billingham.
“Our ability to comply did actually help at the Polish end, as the detailed labelling made their jobs easier.”
Penny agreed that red tape has put off many in the UK from making the trip with supplies. While he saw many Dutch and German people along his travels, he did not see a Brit until he got into Germany on his way home.
Other advice firms have made donations. Philip Milton’s charitable trust and Dennis Hall’s firm, Yellowtail Financial Planning, have both donated £10,000 to the Disasters Emergency Committee.
Tell us your story: Are you doing anything to help the Ukrainian war effort? Let us know: ruby.hinchliffe@ft.com
