Homes for Ukraine: sponsor guidance

Overview and purpose

We have published guidance on Homes for Ukraine which will be regularly updated. Please ensure you read all the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) and that you regularly check the website for the latest advice and support.

This document is additional to the FAQs, and anyone wishing to be a sponsor through this scheme should read both.

This additional guidance covers:

1. Eligibility

2. Other information: checks; thank you payments; interim payments for guests

3. Accommodation

4. Adapting to life in the UK

5. Further support

You can find further information on how the scheme works, who is eligible and how to apply. The FAQs also include more information on how to support guests on arrival, and permissions required for mortgages, insurance, landlords and leaseholders.

1. Eligibility

To meet the requirements to be approved as a sponsor you must:

1. Be over the age of 18

2. Be based in the UK;

2.3. Have at least 6 months permission to be in the UK

3.4. Provide one of the following documents (Note these are to prove your identity rather than right to be in the UK):documents:

• UK Passport
• Irish Passport or Passport Card
• Biometric Residence Permit
• Biometric Residence Card (issued to non-EEA family members granted leave under the EU settlement scheme).
• Refugee Travel Document
• Alternatively, if your sponsor or adults you will be living with have an eVisa you can enter their ‘share codes’ in the box on this page to prove their identities
• UK -issued photo driving licence
• Irish-issued photo driving licence
• Crown Dependency-issued photo driving licence

4.5. Confirm theyyou can provide accommodation for a period of at least six6 months in the UK;

5. Ensure that all adults (18 years and over) in the sponsor household meet suitability requirements (asas set out in text below).below.

Suitability requirements to be approved as a sponsor

To ensure you meet the requirements for approval as a sponsor, the Home Office will conduct standard security and criminal checks on you as well as on all adults aged 18 and over who will be living in the same household as the guests. This includes checks against government records and those of other third parties such as the Police National Computer, or its equivalent in Northern Ireland.

The Home Office will make these checks when considering the visa application. If, as a result, the Home Office considers that you, or other adults who are required to undergo checks, are not fit and proper to assume the responsibility of sponsoring or living with a person arriving through this route, they may refuse the visa application on the basis that you do not meet the eligibilitysuitability requirements for approval as a sponsor. In that case, a guest would need to find an alternative sponsor to make another application. Reasons for you not meeting the requirementsvisa forapplication approval as a sponsor may include:be the provision of false or inaccurate information; criminal convictions; immigration offences; or other illegal activity.refused.

As the lead sponsor, you will need to ask the consent of all adults in the household to provide their details on the application form for these checks.

2. Other information you should know about being an approved sponsor:

Checks

Following checks made as part of the visa application process, the local authority will also complete checks on the accommodation and living arrangements after the Ukrainian individual (or family) arrives. The local authority will also decide which type of Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks are required in line with government guidance. Sponsors will not be charged for these checks

• If your guests have children living with them, an Enhanced DBS check (including a check of the children’s barred list) will be undertaken, for all those who are 16 or over in the sponsor household who are not related to the guest.

• If the local authority decides, while undertaking other checks, that an adult guest requires additional support due to age, disability or illness, that an unrelated sponsor or adult aged 16 or over within the sponsor’s household intends to provide, then the local authority may ask for an Enhanced DBS check (including a check of the adults’ barred list) to be undertaken on any members of the sponsor’s household who is to provide that support.

• In all other circumstances, where sponsors are accommodating guests in their own home, all members of the household who are 16 or over will need to undergo a basic DBS check regardless of their relationship to the guests.

If you, or anyone you know, has any concerns about potential abuses of the scheme, you should report them at the earliest opportunity to the local council, or to the police if you are concerned that a crime has been committed or if there is a threat of a crime being committed.

Thank you payments

You will want to be certain that you are in a secure position to offer a stable home to someone who needs it. You have the option to receive a monthly payment of £350 for up to 12 months, paid in arrears, for as long as you are hosting your guests and that the accommodation provided is of a suitable standard. You will be eligible for the first monthly payment once the local council has visited to check the standard of the accommodation.

There can only be one payment per residential address and in England it will be administered through your council.

For sponsors who receive welfare payments, the government is ensuring ‘thank you’ payments do not affect your benefit entitlement. ‘Thank you’ payments will not affect any council tax discounts for single occupancy. They will be tax free.

If your guest moves out of your home for any reason, you must inform your local council at the earliest opportunity as you will need to let them know that you are no longer eligible for the monthly payments.

Interim payment for guests

If your guests are old enough to work, they will be able to apply to receive Universal Credit and will be able to apply for advance payments, where eligible. Guests who are of pensionable age will have access to Pension Credit and Housing Benefit, provided they meet eligibility criteria.

Guests are eligible for an interim payment of £200 per guest for subsistence costs. This will be administered by the local council where the sponsor accommodation is located. The £200 payment does not need to be repaid by the guest. Local councils will also have discretion to top-up or further support guests with interim or additional payments.

3. Accommodation

All accommodation will be different and while there is no set expectation, your accommodation needs to be free from serious health and safety hazards. You should make sure your home is safe for your guests and that it is in a suitable condition. You will need to make sure that you have a working fire alarm, a carbon monoxide alarm in any room containing a solid fuel burning appliance, and a safe gas supply. You should also make sure that your guests have access to kitchen and bathroom space.

You should also consider how many people you can accommodate so they have sufficient space. The law states that two people should not be in one room unless they are: adult cohabiting partners; a parent and child; two siblings of the same gender if aged over 10; two siblings regardless of gender if aged under 10. Individuals who didn’t previously know each other should not be given the same room.

A decision to become a host family should always involve everyone in the household, including children, whose views, wishes and feeling should be taken into account. There will be additional considerations when the household includes children in foster care.

Please see the FAQs for permissions required for mortgages, insurance, landlords, rentersrenters, leaseholders and leaseholders.foster carers.

Accommodation in your own home and self-contained accommodation

It’s best to set a few clear expectations between you and your guests. As a sponsor you may want to draw up an agreement with your guests that sets a few ground rules. One option is to agree ‘terms of occupation’. Further information on model agreements can be found in the FAQs. There is guidance on sharing your home with a lodger, and whilst it is written for those living in rented homes, it also covers many of the points that any sponsor will want to think about. Rent should not be charged under the sponsorship scheme and therefore tenancy rights should not be created. You may ask guests to pay a reasonable and proportionate contribution (according to use) for water, gas and electricity consumed or supplied to the accommodation or to any shared facilities. With self-contained accommodation, you should agree with your guest who will pay council tax.

4. Adapting to life in the UK

As a sponsor, you’re here to support and help your guests to adapt to life in the UK. The first thing to do will be to make sure they’re comfortable in their accommodation and setup with the basics. They should have enough food and essential supplies like toiletries and it’s worth checking that they’ve got access to a mobile phone and the internet so they can stay in touch with family and friends.

Every guest will be entitled to a £200 interim payment to help with subsistence costs which will be provided by the local council. Under this scheme people will also have access to public services, work and benefits. Guests will have the right to work in the UK. There is no obligation for guests to work in exchange for accommodation. Work undertaken by a guest must be paid and not, in any way, linked to their sponsorship arrangement.

Access to public services

You should try to help direct your guests to public services. For example, this could involve helping them contact and register with a local GP and NHS dentist. Additional guidance on how to access public services can be found on the gov.uk website.

Your local council is responsible for support like:

a. registering children with local schools;schools

b. English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) classes;classes

c. giving advice and referring guests to mental health services and to specialist services if needed;needed

d. arrangingadvising on how to access local Jobcentre Plus appointmentsservices and explaining what their role is

While existing sponsorship relationships should be sustained for benefitsix assessments,months includingor longer, in a minority of cases this will not be possible. If your sponsorship breaks down, or you are worried it is about to breakdown, you should contact your council to make them aware. If appropriate, your local council may offer a rematch with a new guest within the Homes for emergencyUkraine paymentsscheme.

As whileguests anyadapt benefitsto life in the UK, there is the possibility that they make be at risk of exploitation and modern slavery, by those seeking to profit from their exploitation. There are many different indicators of modern slavery and Unseen UK have produced information on signs of modern slavery to look out for.

If you suspect that your guest is being arranged.exploited, you can report this to the Modern Slavery and Exploitation Helpline.

If you are concerned about a child’s overall development and wellbeing, and you think they may need some extra support, you can use the NHS website for further information and the support that is available.

5. Further support

• Homes for Ukraine contains information about the scheme, including a set of ‘Frequently Asked Questions’.Questions’.
• Your local council will provide information about what support they are providing in your area.
• This guidance will be published on GOV.UK and updated as necessary
• The government willis be sharing a Welcomewelcome Packguide with guests, setting out some useful information on the support available to them once in the UK, including housing, employment and access to health facilities and education.
• Guidance on how to support your guests has also been issued to your local council.
• The government has published a list of Recognised Providers – voluntary and community sector organisations running schemes which provide support for and help match people coming from Ukraine with sponsors in the UK.