The UK Home Office announced last night the Homes for Ukraine Scheme, designed to enable UK individuals, charities, community groups and businesses to offer accommodation and support to Ukrainian refugees.

The first phase requires Ukrainian applicants to have a named person/organisation already in the UK to sponsor them. The expectation is that faith groups, charities, universities and others with existing community networks across Europe will co-ordinate the pairing process.

The key highlights of the scheme are:

  • It is aimed at accommodating Ukrainian nationals and their immediate family members (who were resident in Ukraine prior to 1 January 2022);
  • The Ukrainian applicants must have named people in the UK willing to sponsor them;
  • Faith groups, charities and universities can use existing networks to identify sponsors for matching with Ukrainians who don’t have a named contact;
  • UK sponsors must be willing to offer accommodation for at least six months;
  • Checks will be undertaken on both UK sponsors and applicants;
  • Applicants from Ukraine will be subject to security checks;
  • UK families or individuals sponsoring will receive a ‘thank you’ payment of £350 per month from the UK government (maximum 12 months and one payment per household);
  • The Home Office will offer funding to local authorities to support relocated families;
  • Further ‘phases’ of the scheme are to be introduced in due course;
  • Registration is open for organisations and individuals to register interest in accommodating Ukrainians.

Ukrainians coming to the UK as part of the scheme will be granted visas for three years and will also be eligible for benefits, public services (such as NHS healthcare and schooling), and will have the right to work.

The Homes for Ukraine scheme will go live with Phase One this Friday 18 March for Ukrainians and immediate family members who already have named people willing to sponsor them. The application is free of charge.

Those interested in becoming a named person may register interest here.

If you would like more information concerning the points raised in this blog, please do not hesitate to contact our team.

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