Inform, Connect, Empower (ICE) project wrap up

October 31, 2025, marks the end of our EU-funded Inform, Connect, Empower project. Over the last 20 months dedicated BIE volunteer advocates from 11 of the British in Europe coalition countries (AT, BE, CZ, DE, DK, EL, ES, HU, LU, MT, SE) and a BIE core team have worked to deliver the project and support UK Withdrawal Agreement beneficiaries and their family members living in the EU to access their WA rights and find solutions to problems they encountered when their rights were being breached.

We have met our key objectives of raising awareness of the of Charter of Fundamental Rights and the Withdrawal Agreement amongst the 1.2 million UK beneficiaries of the WA living in the EU, and of building capacity in our country groups on how the EU Charter interacts with the Withdrawal Agreement to secure WA implementation and help WA beneficiaries find remedies where problems arise. Over the lifetime of the project, we have helped hundreds of UK WA beneficiaries whose rights were at risk to stay in their host countries, with their families and in their jobs.

But the project has not just been about securing rights. It has also been about building our community. For the first time since British in Europe was created we were able to bring our volunteer advocates together in person to meet and share experiences and ideas. Zoom colleagues have now become firm friends and mutual sources of support and expertise in figuring out difficult to solve cases. And none of us will forget the pre-kick-off-meeting dinner where we met for the first time and shared our personal experiences of Brexit and how we came to be volunteers for citizens’ rights.

Our project is ending but its legacy lives on. Our final project activity was the toolkit for Charter and WA rights. We have posted various articles and videos from the toolkit over the course of the project and this information will remain available on the British in Europe website. Take a look at our toolkit page which is packed with useful information about the Withdrawal Agreement and the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights.

Specific links:

Upgrading from ordinary to permanent residence:

The impact of absences on your Withdrawal Agreement rights

Dealing with the Entry Exit System (EES) as a UK WA beneficiary in the EU

Family reunification rights under the WA and Charter

Your rights to equal treatment in your EU host state as a WA beneficiary

Legal report - Withdrawal Agreement implementation and the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights: UK nationals in the EU

Finally, all projects are a team effort and Inform, Connect, Empower has been no different. We would like to offer up a big thanks to the volunteer advocates who participated in the project:

Jon Ainge, Mike Beamer, Paula Bleanch, Marian Bore, Matt Bristow, Eadie Cook, Julia Cross, Keith Davies, Chris Gardiner, Alex Kennan, Lindsey Kirk, Alison Jones, Caroline O’Connor, Debbie Offen, Hilary Sklar, Kerry Webster, Daniel Tetlow and the participants from Eurocitizens

We would also like to thank:

The project core team, in particular, Krisztina Tóth, as well as Saskia Frank, Erin Verlaque and Sena Yurdaer for their work with the core team as volunteers and interns.

External members and observers of the Governance and Expert Advisory Board

And finally, our expert trainers and event facilitators

Our project is ending and so is our funding. If you appreciate our work and would like to see it continue, please donate and if you are experiencing issues with your WA rights contact us at info@britishineurope.org or send an enquiry to Your Europe Advice.