To receive a presentation in relation to Homes for Ukraine support.
Minutes:
The sub-committee received a presentation providing information and an update in relation to the Homes for Ukraine scheme. The scheme was launched in mid-March 2022 to enable Ukrainian nationals (known as guests in the scheme) with no family connection to come to the UK.
The sub-committee was informed that eligibility criteria applied, and that sponsors and guests were responsible for matching with each other. Security checks were undertaken by the Home Office on potential sponsors, their households and the guests. The terms of the scheme were that sponsors had to provide rent free accommodation for a period of at least 6 months. Guests had leave to remain for 3 years and access to welfare benefits, work, education and health care.
Grant funding was provided by the Government to local authorities to administer the scheme. The funding had to be used to support families to rebuild their lives and to help with community integration. Funding was set at £10,500 per person for the first year; funding beyond the first year was unknown. Additional funding had been made available for education services. Sponsors were eligible for a ‘thank you’ payment of £350 per month for as long as the guest remained in the accommodation, up to a maximum of up to 12 months.
The sub-committee was informed of the duties local authorities were expected to coordinate, which included pre-arrival support to the sponsor and carrying out checks to ensure the property and sponsor are suitable. The local authority would assess the support needs of the guest and arrange for monthly contact to be made with the sponsor/guest. The scheme required that face-to-face contact was made every 6 months. The sub-committee sought clarification and it was confirmed that the sponsors and guests had the opportunity to speak independently of each other to a local authority officer so that any concerns they had could be raised if necessary.
To date, 258 Ukrainian guests had arrived in the borough. The majority of these were in May 2022. Guests continued to arrive in small number per month, with 4 arriving to date in November 2022. It was highlighted that over the coming months it was expected that a further 37 individuals across 19 households were expected to arrive in the borough. The majority of sponsors were hosting 2 guests; there was one sponsor in the borough that was hosting 7 guests. It was noted that the thank you payment of £350 per month available to sponsors was the same amount regardless of the number of guests that were being accommodated.
Members were informed that 56 of the guests that had arrived under the scheme had been hosted by their original sponsor for a period of over 6 months. There had been instances where the arrangement had not been working out and replacements had been found for these guests. The local authority was supporting sponsors and guests with future housing arrangements; many guests were still with existing sponsors, some have asked for a re-match and other guests have left the scheme. Some guests have applied for social housing, though it was acknowledged that the supply of appropriate housing was limited. It was acknowledged that the cost-of-living increase may change the position of sponsors to host guests and that funding from Government after the first 12 months was not yet clear.
It was agreed to note the update.