Information for Ukrainian Nationals arriving in the UK

Help is here if you need it. You can get information, advice, and signposting to services by contacting Rochdale Council’s Helpline on 01706 923685.

Lines are open Monday to Friday: 9am – 5pm.

For emergency help outside these hours ring our OOH service on 0300 202 8875 and choose option 2.

Citizens Advice are a charity that offer free impartial advice around:

• Debt and Money
• Benefits
• Work
• Consumer Rights
• Family Rights
• Housing Rights
• Legal Rights
• Immigration
• Healthcare Rights

Advice line: 0808 278 7803 (free service)

Lines are open Monday to Friday: 8.30am 5.30pm.

There are also, lots of online resources and web chat services. More info: Citizen Advice (external link)

If you need help accessing food, then you can get assistance from our food pantries, food clubs and food banks.

Food clubs and Food Pantries

It costs £1 to join a club for a year.  You can then buy food bags which cost £3.50 but contain £15 of food. Lots of families in Rochdale find these helpful with a good selection of items. There are lots of food clubs and pantries across Rochdale.  A full list can be found below:

Newbold Food Club

Open: every Friday, 9.30am to 11.30am

Phone number: 01706 649729

Address: Newbold Children’s Centre, Moss Street, Rochdale OL16 5NL

Heywood Food Club

Open: every Friday, 9.30am to 11.30am

Phone number: 01706 369889

Address: Derby Street Children's Centre, Derby Street, Heywood OL10 4QJ

Littleborough Food Club

Open: every Thursday, 1pm to 3pm

Phone number: 01706 378166

Address: Littleborough Sports Centre, Calderbrook Road, Littleborough OL15 9JN

RBH Kirkholt

Open: every Thursday, 9.30am to 12pm

Phone number: 07531 556697

Address: Community Hub, 17 The Strand, Rochdale OL11 2JG

RBH Freehold

Open: every Thursday, 9.30am to 12pm

Phone number: 07532 556697

Address: Community Annex, opposite 271 Olney, Freehold OL11 4LQ

RBH Smallbridge

Open: every Thursday, 9.30am to 12pm

Phone number: 07532 556697

Address: 5 Stevenson Square, Smallbridge, Rochdale OL12 9SA

The Light House Project - Your Local Pantry

Open: every Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, 9.30am to 12.30pm

Phone number: 0161 643 1163

Address: Unit S6b/c Middleton Shopping Centre, Limetrees Road, Middleton M24 4EL

KYP Community Pantry

Open: every Wednesday, 9.30am to 1.30pm

Phone number: 01706 630140

Address: Enterprise Centre, Belfield Road, Rochdale OL16 2UP

Rochdale AFC - Dave vs Hunger Food Pantry

Open: Monday to Friday, 9.30am to 4.30pm

Phone number: 01706 643836

Address: Crown Oil Arena, Sandy Lane, Rochdale OL11 5DR

Auntie Irene's Pantry

Open: every Wednesday, 6pm to 7pm and every Sunday, 12pm to 2pm

Phone number: 07870 172142

Address: 8 St James Street, Milnrow, Rochdale OL16 3JT

Food clubs can also be accessed at your local children’s centre. See below:

• Newbold Sure Start Children Centre, Moss Street, Rochdale, OL16 5NL. More information: Newbold Childrens Centre
• Littleborough Sure Start Children's Centre, Denhurst Road, Littleborough, OL15 9LD. More information: Littleborough Childrens Centre
• Derby Street Sure Start Children's Centre, Derby Street, Heywood, OL10 4QJ. More information: Derby Childrens Centre

Foodbanks

You need a voucher to use a foodbank. You can get a voucher from your doctor, health visitor, social worker, local citizens advice bureau or charity organisation. Your local foodbank can provide emergency food for at least 3 days.

Here's a list of some of the foodbanks in Rochdale borough:

• Rochdale Foodbank, South Parade, Rochdale OL16 1LR and Wesley Street, Smallbridge OL12 9RW. More information: Rochdale Foodbank (external link)
• Heywood Foodbank, Adelaide Street, Heywood OL10 4HE.
• Middleton Central Foodbank, Middleton Shopping Centre, Limetrees Road.  More information: Middleton Foodbank (external link)

Mental Health

If you’re struggling with your mental health then you don’t have to face it alone.

Rochdale Mind can help you to understand your condition and the choices available to you through one to one sessions, counselling, support groups and wellbeing courses. 

You can contact them on 01706 752 338 or email at info@rochdalemind.org.uk

More info: Rochdale Mind (external link)

Thinking Ahead Rochdale can also help you if you are feeling distressed by difficult events in your life or are suffering from a mental health problem. Thinking Ahead provide a range of talking therapies, which allow you to talk to someone who is trained to help you.

You can call them on 01706 751 180, or fill in an online referral form here: Big Life Group (external link)

Help with improving your lifestyle

Living Well can provide around stopping smoking, exercise and feeling better all round. They can help you with a wide range of issues including: reducing your alcohol use, improving your mood, weight management or something else. More information can be found through the Living Well website (external link) or you can contact them on 01706 751190 for more information.

Living Well also have a digital library and digital champions to support people getting online to connect with family and friends and do online shopping. Contact Living Well Community Champions (external link)

Your Trust offer a range of activities to keep you healthy.  They also have a range of cultural activities you can get involved in, from art clubs and exhibitions, to theatre performances.  See their website for more details: Your Trust (external link)

Things to do

Rochdale has a range of places to go and things to do. A few examples of places that are worth a visit are the lovely Hollingworth Lake and Visitor Centre, Queens Park and Touchstones Gallery and Museum and Hopwood Woods in Middleton. The Visit Rochdale website (external link) is a good place to find out about what’s happening in Rochdale.

There are two Ukrainian churches in Rochdale:

Saint Mary and Saint James UCC, UCC Oldham, Yorkshire Street, Rochdale OL16 1LA, 0161 627 0250. More info: UAOC Rochdale (external link)

The Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church of St Mary the Protectress, 39 Water Street, Rochdale, OL16 1TL, 07957 236755. More info: UAOC Rochdale Facebook (external link)

The is a Rochdale branch of The Association of Ukrainians in Great Britain,  Rochdale Ukrainian Cultural Centre, 15 Mere Street, Rochdale, OL11 1HJ.

Telephone: 07442972419 Email Address: rochdale@augb.co.uk.

More info: Rochdale Ukrainian Club (external link)

Rochdale Council can help if you are homeless or threatened with homelessness.

During office hours you can contact the Homelessness Team on 0300 3030 8548.

For any enquiries out of hours you can call 0300 303 8875.

You can also contact the team by email at homelessness@rochdale.gov.uk

More information: Homelessness Advice and Prevention (external link)

If you need help finding a childcare place, you can find more information here: Help chooosing childcare. 

If you need help finding a school or college place, you can find more information here: School places and school admissions (external link)

Rochdale Council can provide help with finding a job or accessing training.  To arrange a one to one discussion you can contact them at jobsandskills@rochdale.gov.uk.

You can also access the Rochdale Council run Facebook group, Get Rochdale Working (external link)

If someone is seriously ill, injured and their life is at risk, you can call 999 to access the Police, Ambulance or Fire Service.