OUR SERVICES
Homes for Ukraine Sponsorship Scheme
Homes for Ukraine Sponsorship Scheme – information for sponsors
If you’ve offered to be a sponsor under the Homes for Ukraine Sponsorship Scheme you are playing an important role in providing safe, temporary homes to people in need of urgent sanctuary who are fleeing persecution, trauma, and conflict in Ukraine.
In recognition of people’s generosity and the costs associated with helping, the UK Government is making available an optional ‘thank you’ payment of £350 a month to sponsors/hosts, that meet a set of eligibility criteria, to help in offering accommodation to Ukrainian refugees.
This payment of £350 a month will be made for the first 12 months of your guests’ stay. This increases to £500 once your guest has been in the UK for 12 months to help sponsors who are able to continue hosting for longer. This includes when a sponsor/host or the guest has been re-matched, even if it is the sponsor/hosts first time hosting.
‘Thank you’ payments are available to sponsors for the time of a guest’s Homes for Ukraine visa permission – up to 36 months for sponsors of guests on a three year Homes for Ukraine visa, and up to 18 months for guests on the new 18 month Homes for Ukraine visa (which came into effect on 19 February 2024).
Eligibility for payment: Sponsors/hosts should note that they will only be eligible to apply for this payment once a set of five safeguarding and accommodation checks have been carried out and passed. All five checks as detailed below must be successful for payment to be made:
These are:
- confirmation that the accommodation exists
- a home visit to the accommodation to make sure it is of an acceptable standard
- the proper level of Access NI check on the sponsors
- health and social care safeguarding checks on each member of the sponsor household
- a second visit to the accommodation after arrival to confirm that the Ukrainian guests are in the property, and it meets their needs
You will be told at the first home visit of the needs of these checks and of the eligibility criteria for payments. You should make sure that all relevant documents asked for at the home visit is filled in and returned as soon as possible. If you do not, it may delay the process.
When you have successfully passed all five checks and are eligible for payment, you will be contacted via the government ‘Notify’ system to explain how the process for claiming the payments will work.
Payments process:
You will be contacted to give the necessary details for payments to be made.
You will be asked to confirm some information about you and your Ukrainian guest(s). You will be asked for this information to verify that you are the person entitled to the money.
You will also be asked to give your bank account details and fill in a simple declaration. This declaration form should be returned within 30 days to confirm you will claim payment. To make sure that the money does not go into the wrong bank account, you will also be contacted by phone to confirm the bank account details.
The ‘thank you’ payment is limited to one payment per residential address, regardless of the number of guests being sponsored, size or location of the property. You cannot charge the person(s) you are sponsoring/hosting rent.
This payment will be made monthly in arrears, upon successful completion of all checks, and will be backdated to the date the Ukrainian guest(s) arrived.
It will continue to be made for as long as you sponsor/host someone up to a maximum of 36 months or18 months for guests on the new 18 month Homes for Ukraine visa (which came into effect for applications made after 3.00 pm 19 February 2024).
Payment conditions:
If you have a guest(s) living with you and later fail any of the five safeguarding and accommodation checks, you will not be eligible for any payment for the period you had the guest(s) with you.
Payment will depend on successfully passing all five safeguarding and accommodation checks and will only be for the period the guest(s) was living in the accommodation.
Guests may move out before the full 36-month period but the sponsor/host is still eligible to claim the monthly payment of either £350 or £500 for the period in which the guest lived with them, as long as checks were finished successfully.
If your guest moves out of your home for any reason, you must report this to the department by email as soon as possible to avoid over-payment of the monthly payments:
The sponsor/host is only eligible to claim the monthly payment of either £350 or £500 for the period in which the guest lived with them, as long as checks were finished successfully.
Where a guest leaves the host accommodation permanently, payments will not be made where a guest has stayed in the accommodation for less than 16 days in the final calendar month, worked out as beginning from the date of arrival. For example, if a guest arrives with the host on 10 October, the first month period will be 10 October to 9 November, the second month 10 November to 9 December. and so on.
Where a guest leaves on a temporary basis and returns within 16 days, payment will be made as normal.
Where a guest leaves on a temporary basis for a period expected to be greater than 16 days, payment will be put on hold. Payment will not be made for the period of absence if the absence is greater than 16 days. Payments will resume upon their return to the host accommodation – as above, tell the department by email:
If a rematch has occurred, the new sponsor/host will be only eligible to claim the £350 or £500 payment for the remaining months of the 12-month payment period. For example, if Ukrainian guests stay with their original sponsor/host for three months, leave and are re-matched to a new sponsor/host accommodation, the new sponsor/host will only be eligible to claim the ‘thank you’ payment for the period the Ukrainian guests stay with them up to a maximum of 33 months, so using the full 36-month period.
Similarly, if Ukrainian guest has an 18 month visa and they stay with their original sponsor/host for three months, leave and are re-matched to a new sponsor/host accommodation, the new sponsor/host will only be eligible to claim the ‘thank you’ payment for the period the Ukrainian guests stay with them up to a maximum of 15 months, so using the full 18-month period.
If you are receiving welfare payments, the ‘thank you’ payments will not affect your benefit entitlement.
You will not be expected to give meals or pay for living expenses, although there is nothing stopping you doing this if you want to.
Once your guest has arrived you can reach an agreement, that works for both of you, on a reasonable and proportionate contribution to household expenses. For example, to utilities used or supplied to the accommodation, or to any shared facilities.
You cannot force anyone who is staying with you to work for you, either within your home or at a business that you own.
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