Dear colleagues,
Following on from last week’s update regarding the Homes for Ukraine scheme, late Friday the government published outline guidance for local authorities in England. Detailed guidance is still being developed but this outline helps to confirm a few key points.
It is clear that a wide range of services from local government and our key partners will be required, including initial checks and visits to sponsor homes, benefits advice and payment, finding school and early years placements and health provision.
We have mobilised a system wide team (including county, district and city councils and health partners etc). They will coordinate our response. We have learnt much from our Covid experiences and recognise we are better able to support such initiatives together.
The Homes for Ukraine scheme will support the sponsorship of Ukrainian individuals and families coming to the UK in two phases.
Phase one is where individuals in the UK sponsor named guests to come and live with them in their home. Both the sponsor and guest can use a number of channels to find a match (direct relation, friend, friend of a friend or contact from an NGO, charity or other contact). This is the only official hosting scheme currently operational. The route for people to enter the UK is through a visa process administered by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities and the Home Office. It is this system, and only this system, that will trigger requests to local authorities for support. CDC’s involvement is linked to that activation and to those individuals successfully registering through that route.
The government has published a set of Frequently Asked Questions which will be helpful to anyone considering hosting Ukrainian guests in their home.
The second phase is where the scheme will be expanded to enable organisations and community groups to sponsor multiple guests. This scheme is not yet open, as it is still being developed by the government. You may have been contacted by local community organisations wishing to develop plans and who are looking for immediate answers on how they can do this. Whilst they will, in the near future, be key in welcoming and supporting our Ukrainian friends, we do not have these answers yet.
There is much public enthusiasm to help our Ukrainian friends. However, things are moving at such a pace that there is likely to be a certain degree of public confusion and misunderstanding about how the scheme will work. Please forward this note to your parish councillors, so that they will be appropriately briefed when they have conversations with your residents.
As we get more information over the coming days and weeks, we will keep you updated.
Kind regards
Kevin
Kevin Larner
Healthy Communities Manager
Communities / Wellbeing / Cherwell District Council
Direct Dial 01295 221706 / Kevin.larner@cherwell-dc.gov.uk
www.cherwell.gov.uk Twitter: @Cherwellcouncil
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