Helen Bamber Foundation Group appoints Alison Pickup as their new CEO
Helen Bamber Foundation Group (HBF Group) is pleased to announce Alison Pickup as their new Chief Executive Officer.
Alison, who is currently the Executive Director of Asylum Aid, a charity part of the HBF Group, will take over from Kerry Smith, who has been the CEO of the HBF Group since May 2018 to June 2025.
As the new CEO, Alison will strengthen the partnership between Asylum Aid, the Helen Bamber Foundation, and the Migrants' Law Project, all of which form the HBF Group. She takes on the role at HBF Group at a point when the organisation is set to grow its impact significantly. Having opened the UK’s first major Trauma Centre for the rehabilitation of survivors of trafficking and torture in central London in 2024, HBF Group is poised to deliver life-saving care and rehabilitation in our bespoke, sector-leading clinical and community facilities to greater number of survivors so they can recover and rebuild their lives.
At Asylum Aid, Alison has led an expert team providing high-quality legal representation to some of the most vulnerable people seeking protection in the UK. She has significantly grown the organisation’s impact during her four years at the helm and led several legal challenges bringing about positive changes to the immigration and asylum systems.
Before joining Asylum Aid, Alison was the Legal Director of the Public Law Project (2016-2021) and was a barrister at leading human rights set Doughty Street Chambers from 2007-2016, where she was involved in a number of important strategic cases concerning migrants’ rights in the UK. In 2015 she was named Legal Aid Barrister of the Year at the Legal Aid Lawyer of the Year Awards. She currently is the Vice Chair of the board of trustees at the Legal Education Foundation.
Alison Pickup, said:
“I am thrilled to be the new CEO of HBF Group. My focus will be on strengthening our work to enable more survivors of trafficking and torture to find safety and recover. Right now, we support over 1,000 men, women, and children every year from some of the world's most challenging contexts, but we have to do so much more to make sure survivors get the support they need. I am ready to fight for our clients, and will make sure that HBF is at the heart of ensuring that across the UK and globally we show survivors the humanity they deserve.”
Adam Epstein, Chair of Trustee at Helen Bamber Foundation, said:
“I am delighted to announce Alison as the new CEO of the HBF Group. She has demonstrated outstanding leadership at Asylum Aid, greatly increasing its impact and expertise. Under her guidance, the charity transformed the lives of thousands of people seeking protection from persecution, and increased the availability of legal support across legal deserts in the UK, from Devon to Manchester. She increased capacity in our statelessness project and in our legal aid casework, enabling us to serve many more vulnerable clients. We are confident that she will bring the same passion and experience across the HBF Group.
I want to say a special thank you to Kerry for all her hard work over the past seven years. She has been pivotal in bringing the HBF Group from strength to strength, and particularly in establishing the Group structure by welcoming Asylum Aid in 2020. She has ensured this pioneering collective of charities continued to grow despite challenges from the pandemic to hostile environments and has been instrumental in opening UK’s first major Trauma Centre for survivors of trafficking and torture.”