StartNewLife.

What StartNewLife covers

The platform is structured around the real questions a refugee asks in their first year in the UK — based on five years of community casework and the GLA-funded research that built SiBot:

• Asylum process — screening interview prep, ARC card, Section 95 housing, substantive interview, refusals and appeals
• NHS healthcare — GP registration with no fixed address, interpreter rights, mental health, women's health, dental and optical
• Housing — Home Office accommodation, post-decision moves, homelessness, private rental basics
• Work and study — work permits, recognised qualifications, ESOL, university routes
• Money and admin — bank accounts without ID, BRP, NINo, Universal Credit eligibility
• LGBTQ+ specific — links to Skybow and Rainbow Migration
• Women's safety — links to She for domestic violence resources

The community

Behind the platform sits a Telegram + WhatsApp community of 2,000+ refugees and asylum seekers, with 253,000+ messages exchanged. Eight refugee volunteers serve as community moderators. Casework support comes from the Mendee team for cases that need human help.

Languages

Content is published in seven languages — chosen to serve refugee communities historically underserved by mainstream UK information: English, Russian, Tajik, Uzbek, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, and Ukrainian.

How it's funded

StartNewLife is run by Mendee CIC and is free to use. Funding has come from the Greater London Authority's Mayor's Challenge LDN 2023, an Innovate UK AI R&D grant, and the QMUL Grow It Awards (2022 — first external validation). Additional sustaining revenue comes from Mendee Digital Ltd's commercial services.