Funding for councils: Homes for Ukraine

The government is providing funding to councils at a rate of £5,900 for guests who arrived after 1 January 2023 (£10,500 per person for guests who arrived before 1 January 2023) under the Homes for Ukraine Scheme. This funding will provide support to families to rebuild their lives and fully integrate into communities.

Round 1 of the £1.2 billion Local Authority Housing Fund (LAHF), provides funding for local authorities to obtain accommodation for families with housing needs who have arrived in the UK via Ukrainian and Afghan resettlement and relocation schemes. Find further information on the Local Authority Housing Fund.

Thank you payments

The government is also providing funding for councils to administer the thank you payments.

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As of 1 October 2024, sponsors/hosts of new arrivals are not eligible to receive thank you payments for sponsoring/hostinghosting a close family member who moves into their home in the UK.UK.  This change applies to payment claims taking place from this date, irrespective of visa application dates. It also includes where a guest transfers onto the Ukraine Permission Extension scheme.

Close family members include:

• a spouse, or civil or unmarried partnerpartner;
• a parentparent;
• a parent-in-lawparent-in-law;
• a son or daughterdaughter;
• a son- or daughter-in-lawdaughter-in-law;
• a step-son or daughterdaughter;
• a siblingsibling; 
• a grandparent; or
• the spouse, civil partner or unmarried partner of any of these peoplepeople.

For unaccompanied minors, this also includes an aunt or uncle of the child.

Those who are already in the UK and move in with a close family member are classified as having left the Homes for Ukraine scheme, rather than a rematch. In these cases, councilslocal authorities are not required to carry out the usual HomesHfU for Ukraine safeguarding checks, however statutory duties still apply.

Councils should determine whether a close family relationship exists between a sponsor/host and guest before issuing thank you payments.

Councils have discretion over what information they use to determine this.

We allocate additional funding for these payments through a ringfenced grant, and we expect councils to cover any administration costs fromwithin the tariff.

How payments to councils are made

The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) makes quarterly payments to councils, in arrears. On 30 June 2022 MHCLG made the first payment to councils, to cover the months March to May. On 23 November 2022 MHCLG made the second payment to councils, to cover months June to August. On 16 March 2023, MHCLG made the third payment to councils, to cover the months September to November.

Payments are based on the actual number of Homes for Ukraine guests for the tariff and the actual number of legitimate‘thank thankyou’ you payments made to sponsoring households within each area.area and are adjusted to account for ratified rematches between local authorities and devolved administrations.

Reconciliation process

MHCLG conducts a reconciliation process at the end of each financial year to ensure that councils received their correct entitlement for both the tariff and ‘thank you’ payments.

England including two-tier councils

In England, in two-tiertwo tier areas, both districts and counties have access to funds for their relevant duties under the scheme. Having engaged closely with representatives from the sector to determine the most appropriate payment mechanism, funding for both the £5,900 tariff (£10,500 before 1 January 2023) and thank you payments will be provided to upper-tier councils.

However, in two-tier areas it is a condition of the funding that councils must agree a plan locally to:

• make prompt payments to lower-tier councils in relation to all the services which they provide to guests under the scheme, during the full duration of the scheme, including for services such as homelessness assistance for which lower-tier councils are responsible
• make an immediate payment to lower-tier councils in relation to any upfront costs

Scotland

In Scotland, councils receive the £5,900 tariff (£10,500 before 1 January 2023) and ‘thank you’ payments directly from MHCLG, except in cases where the Scottish Government are currently acting as a sponsor.

Wales

In Wales, the Welsh Government receive the £5,900 (£10,500 before 1 January 2023) payments for local councils from MHCLG and distribute this funding to Welsh councils. The ‘thank you’ payments are provided directly to Welsh councils by MHCLG, except in cases where the Welsh Government are currently acting as a sponsor.

Northern Ireland

In Northern Ireland, the Executive Office receive the £5,900 tariff (£10,500 before 1 January 2023) and ‘thank you’ payments from MHCLG.

Keeping accurate records on the case management system (CMS)

We will continue to collect data relating to the programme in the CMS, through which we expect councils to upload relevant data regularly, and at a minimum, weekly.

Councils must maintain accurate records on the number of guests and sponsorship households in their area. It is critical that this data is accurately captured and reported to MHCLG to enable payments of funding to be made.

Councils must use the tariff to meet all of their associated costs (both for providing council services to guests and for administering payments), this includes any discretionary top up to the ‘thank you’ payment. We recognise, however, that a small number of councils may incur additional essential costs above and beyond what could reasonably be regarded as normal expenditure and not available through other mainstream funding mechanisms. We will therefore consider claims for such costs on an exceptional basis only.

We ask that any council which may be experiencing unmanageable pressures to contact MHCLG in the first instance.