Rural estates ready for refugees

Welcoming Ukrainian refugees, rural estates in Scotland are ready, willing and able to offer accommodation and employment.

Sending out the message as the conflict continued, Scottish Land & Estates (SLE) said more than 40 estates had volunteered to help those fleeing war and arriving in Scotland.

The organisation has written to the Scottish Government expressing willingness to assist and will also provide details to the UK Government’s Homes for Ukraine scheme which opened this week.

“Estates in Scotland are very keen to help in any way they can to those fleeing the devastation in Ukraine,” said SLE vice-chair, Dee Ward.

“As these estates are rural businesses, many are in the fortunate position of being able to offer not just accommodation but also employment opportunities for refugees arriving here.

“We have no doubt that as well as estates helping those coming to stay, there will be many Ukrainian people with experience and talent in sectors such including farming, food production and hospitality that can be of real value to our rural communities.”

Meanwhile leading rural insurer, NFU Mutual has announced it was making a £150,000 donation to the emergency donation to the Disasters Emergency Committee’s Ukraine Appeal through its charitable Trust.

The Mutual, which holds considerable pension and equity funds, will divest itself from all Russian holdings as soon as possible, although as such holdings were minimal, this was unlikely to have a significant effect on its market performance.