Anna’s mission to help Polish step on to the housing ladder

DURING the boom years before the crash of 2008, thousands of Polish people headed to Yorkshire in search of work and new opportunities. When the UK economy went into freefall following the collapse of Lehman Brothers, many decided to go home.

However, some, like lawyer Anna Barnard, who came over before the crisis, have stayed on, and now they want to get a foot on the property ladder.

Ms Barnard, who is from Gliwice in Poland, moved to the UK in 2006. She has joined the Wakefield-based conveyancing team at law firm Jordans Solicitors, where her duties will include providing advice to Polish-speaking clients who want to buy a home of their own. Ms Barnard, who is fluent in English and Polish, graduated with a law degree from Huddersfield University in 2012.

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Stephen Proctor, a partner and head of property law at Jordans, said: “As well as being versed in the legal technicalities of property transactions, a ‘foreign language’ in itself to many, she bridges the language barrier for both UK and Polish clients in all senses.

“Putting down roots in a new country can be difficult, so it is a real benefit for Polish people making the move to be able to speak to Anna about the legal system in a way that they can really understand. She can also draw on her own experiences and tailor the advice they need.”

Yesterday, Ms Barnard said she was delighted to be able to help Polish people who have settled in the UK. She said: “I found the Poland to UK transition a bit tricky at first; there were new surroundings and different ways of doing things.

“The warmth of the people I have come across has really made me feel at home. If, in some small way I can help others to settle down and in their turn, become an asset to their new country, then I feel that I can achieve something very worthwhile.”

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In 2004, the introduction of eight new Eastern European countries to the EU paved the way for a significant increase in Polish migration. The ‘EU8’ – Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia – were allowed instant and unrestricted immigration, resulting in an estimated 1.5 million workers travelling to the UK.

However, according to recent figures on long-term migration habits released by the Office of National Statistics, the level of people coming into Britain quickly subsided. Focusing on people who have lived in the UK for more than 12 months, the ONS study found net migration from the ‘EU8’ has decreased by almost two-thirds since 2007.

The number of people living in the UK but born in EU8 countries rose each year from 2004 to 2007 by between 50,000 and 87,000. An additional 37,000 long-term residents in 2008 and 2009 led to reports that by the end of the decade 700,000 Eastern European migrants had settled in the UK.

But the ONS figures reveal that since then net migration levelled off and then begin to decrease.

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In three years, the number of EU8 migrants coming to live in the UK for more than 12 months has dropped to an average of 30,000 a year. A spokesman for the Solicitors Regulation Authority said it had received applications from just seven registered European lawyers since the start of 2009, which have some kind of Polish jurisdiction.

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