By GB News (World News) | Created at 2026-09-16 15:35:34 | Updated at 2026-09-16 16:37:28
1 hour ago
Upmarket department store Selfridges has removed all references to its training scheme for asylum seekers in partnership with the controversial migrant charity Care4Calais following a GB News investigation.
The scheme, which was rolled out in 2025 and called "Selfridges London x Care4Calais1", was described by one of the store’s former Operations Managers, who left her role last month, as "a project that has been two years in the making".
It provided two weeks of training for migrants, covering "coffee making, service, knife skills and hosting".
The scheme also provided "the chance to gain Level 2 Food Hygiene certification, CV workshop training and…a pathway into meaningful opportunities within hospitality", all in partnership with Care4Calais.
Care4Calais has previously been criticised for the support it offers to migrants in Northern France.
Support includes providing clothing, Ramadan food packs, smartphones, hairdressing services and English lessons.
Critics have suggested such provisions may incentivise or encourage illegal crossings to the UK.
During a separate Charity Commission Inquiry in 2023, the organisation insisted it did not support, encourage or facilitate illegal crossings.
However, Reform UK's home affairs spokesman Zia Yusuf told The People's Channel: "Care4Calais is not a charity.
"It creates incentives for illegal migrants to break into this country.
"Shockingly, Selfridges has thrown its weight behind them, having previously offered training, qualifications and employment pathways to migrants while British young people face record unemployment."
Latest official figures have revealed the UK faces a youth unemployment crisis, with over one million young people not being in education, employment or training.
The figure equates to around 13.5 per cent of all young people in the country.
GB News understands that the training programme has now concluded.
Until recently, Selfridges also partnered with Care4Calais through its “Team Volunteering” scheme, under which every member of staff is entitled to five paid volunteering days each year.
According to the store’s volunteering website, Care4Calais was one of just six "local partners in London" and Selfridges "supports Care4Calais, a volunteer-run refugee charity…working together, our volunteers help the refugees supported through the charity with English lessons and sporting activities".
Since Selfridges was approached for comment, all references to Care4Calais have been removed from its website.
Mr Yusuf commented on the prior partnership, saying: "Selfridges’ CEO should hang his head in shame for its ties with Care4Calais.
"These opportunities should be going to young British people, not organisations incentivising the invasion of our country, which puts our women and children in danger.
"Using Reform UK's proposed ‘Polanski Law’, which we would introduce in order to criminalise acts that assist or encourage illegal entry, we would treat those who enable this invasion as the accomplices they are and shut them down immediately."
Rob Bates, Director of the Centre for Migration Control, also told GB News: "At a time when we have record youth unemployment, it is an unconscionable that Selfridges has chosen to direct early career opportunities towards asylum seekers.
"It is reputational suicide for a brand as iconic as Selfridges to be working with Care4Calais, a discredited group that has been at the heart of the Channel crisis since it began."
A Selfridges spokesman said: "Our corporate charitable giving is focused on three long-term national partnerships with Oxfam, Centrepoint and The King’s Trust.
"Through these partnerships, we support a range of important issues including humanitarian crises, homelessness, youth employment and social mobility.
"Outside of our three charitable partnerships, our team members are also able to take up to five volunteering days a year to support causes and initiatives they feel passionately about."
Care4Calais has been approached for comment.
The charity has previously strongly denied allegations of facilitating or supporting illegal migration.
During an appearance at the Home Affairs Select Committee in 2023, the charity told MPs: “We provide no assistance to refugees in Calais and Northern France with journeys to the UK or asylum claims in the UK, and no encouragement.”
The Charity has also said its operations focus on the provision of humanitarian aid and that it does not want any individual to attempt to cross the Channel by dangerous means, instead campaigning for safe routes for people who want to seek asylum in the UK.
