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Guidance for local authorities on the funding available to support the Homes for Ukraine scheme.

First published:
19 August 2022
Last updated:

Background

There are several different funding streams for local authorities in 2024 to 2025 to support Ukrainian people coming to Wales under the Homes for Ukraine scheme. The Homes for Ukraine Scheme encompasses those directly placed with hosts or those coming through the “super sponsor” scheme:

  • general tariff per person
  • unaccompanied minors
  • monthly thank you payments for hosts
  • welcome accommodation

The Nation of Sanctuary National Advisory Service has been put in place through Blaenau Gwent Council and is being funded by the Welsh Government.

No additional funding has been provided by UK Government or the Welsh Government for health boards.

This guidance will be updated periodically when issues are identified or circumstances change.

General tariff funding

The Homes for Ukraine scheme provides a per-person tariff for local authorities to support local authorities to provide wrap-around support to individuals and families to rebuild their lives and fully integrate into communities.

The UK 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. For the avoidance of doubt, while the tariff is calculated on a per person rate, it is not to be applied specifically to an individual and funding may be aggregated and used to support the delivery of activities to all Ukrainians under the Homes for Ukraine Scheme in that authority. It may be the case that support services are set up and used by Ukrainians under the Homes for Ukraine Scheme and the Family Scheme to utilise economies of scale. 

The tariff payment is paid to local authorities by the Welsh Government quarterly in arrears on the receipt and processing of a valid claim. The tariff will be pro rata per month at a rate of £475 per month for those arriving after the 1 January 2023 (£5,900 less £200 emergency payment divided by 12) for the time that the local authority is supporting an individual in a host situation or rented accommodation. Under the initial accommodation approach, for the time an individual was in initial emergency accommodation the tariff element was retained by the Welsh Government and support was provided to local authorities through separate wraparound funding. The separate wraparound funding ended when the initial accommodation estate closed completely in July 2024. Under the revised welcome accommodation approach for new arrivals, the full tariff will be issued to local authorities.    

This funding may be used to support the following (not an exhaustive list and types of services are dependent on need and local authority assessment):

  • undertake proportionate accommodation checks to ensure accommodation is suitable for the number and profile of people intending to live in it, with access to adequate facilities, and that there are no serious safety hazards
  • facilitate Enhanced DBS applications for sponsors and all members of the sponsor household who are aged 16+ including checking identity. Councils are required to cover the cost of DBS checks from the year 1 tariff
  • undertake welfare visits, needs for care and support assessments, and safeguarding checks
  • community ntegration: local authorities and their partners will play a key role in the integration of Ukrainian families into their local communities. Integration might include casework support to resolve barriers or concerns, ESOL provision, access to interpretation services, development of community events, using community champions in the voluntary or faith sector and helping to signpost people to relevant support
  • specialist service referrals: where necessary or advisable, councils should facilitate referrals to specialist public health services e.g. mental health services, adult social care and children’s services
  • work and benefits: councils should help guests to access support for claiming benefits and job-seeking
  • initial emergency payments: the local authority where the host accommodation is located is asked to provide an interim payment of £200 per guest. The £200 payment is part of the £5,900 tariff and does not need to be repaid by the guest. Local authorities will also have discretion within the tariff to top-up or further support guests with interim or additional payments which will come from their monthly allocation of tariff funding. The £200 is payable to the Ukrainian person and not to their sponsor
  • accommodation: help for those moving into the private rented sector with, for example, bonds, rent in advance, and rent guarantee. This is the responsibility of the receiving authority where individuals are moving between authorities
  • rematching: facilitating rematching where sponsorships break down
  • eligible minors: supporting children under the age of 18 who are not travelling with or joining their parent or legal guardian in the UK, including undertaking an initial visit within 24 hours of a child’s arrival to determine suitable living arrangements and welfare
  • maintain accurate records on the numbers of guests and host/sponsorship households in their area, accommodation and DBS checks, etc. using The Nation of Sanctuary: Ukraine Data Platform 

Where individuals formally move between local authority areas (including from welcome accommodation) to alternative local authority areas in Wales the tariff will be paid pro rata to the new host authority. Reconciliation will take place at the end of each financial year. Claiming on a 12-month pro rata basis means that there are no transfers of funding required between authorities. It also means where an individual moves from Wales to England, Scotland or Northern Ireland during their first-year funding will be held by the Welsh Government for reconciliation purposes. 

For example, if an individual arrives in April 2024, stays in welcome accommodation in Powys for 2 months, moves in with a host in Cardiff for 6 months and then onto rented accommodation in Caerphilly the funding will be as follows:

  • UK Government pay £5,900 to the Welsh Government
  • Powys pays individual £200 and claims from the Welsh Government, along with 2 months tariff payments (£950) 
  • Cardiff local authority claims 6 months tariff payments (£2,850)
  • Caerphilly local authority claims 4 months tariff payments (£1,900) 

Costs may not be even across the year; however, the impact will be different depending on an individual’s movement during the year. Therefore, a straight pro rata has been applied.

Additional costs

We expect local authorities to use the funding tariffs to meet all associated costs (both for providing services and for administering payments). 

We are prepared to consider the case for further funding and are prepared to initially consider claims for such costs on an exceptional basis only but will carefully monitor these cost implications. 

This would include claiming £9,000 per household presenting as homeless in any local authority within their first 6 months of arrival via the Welsh Government super sponsor route. 

Agreement to these must be sought in advance of incurring costs except in cases of extreme urgency. Retrospective agreement cannot be guaranteed.

Eligible minors (children who are not travelling with or joining their parent or legal guardian)

  • For eligible minors, the tariff is £10,500 per individual for the first year and £6,100 for the second and third years.
  • Optional monthly “thank you” payment for sponsors of eligible minors can be paid for the duration of the child’s Homes for Ukraine visa permission (up to 3 years). As of 1 October 2024, close family members of eligible minors are not eligible to start claiming thank you payments.
  • Where an eligible minor’s sponsorship arrangements break down and the minor is placed in the care of the local authority, funding will be provided at a rate of £64,150 per minor per year for the duration of their stay under a Homes for Ukraine visa, pro-rated at a weekly rate. This will be paid via the Welsh Government on agreement by UK Government via the data claim form.
  • When the child leaves care, funding will be provided at a rate of £16,850 per year, per care leaver. This will be paid via the Welsh Government.

Where a close family member is identified already accommodating an unaccompanied minor in the UK, they should not be treated as a sponsor/host. They are therefore not eligible to claim thank you payments, nor the local authority the ‘eligible minors’ tariff.

The Ukraine Permission Extension scheme

  • The Ukraine Permission Extension scheme will be open for applications from 09:00 GMT on 4 February 2025.
  • Applications to the Ukraine Permission Extension (UPE) will be free. 
  • A Ukrainian national, or the family member of a Ukrainian national, living in the UK with existing permission on one of the Ukraine schemes, may be eligible to apply for UPE to continue living in the UK for up to a further 18 months.  
  • Eligible individuals will need to make an application online. If the application is successful, Ukrainians will be able to continue to live, work and study in the UK and access public funds. 
  • Further detail on eligibility and application processes is available at Applying to the Ukraine Permission Extension scheme

Sponsors of those previously on Homes for Ukraine visas will be eligible for thank you payments of £350 a month, for the 18 months that guests are covered by the UPE visa.

Monthly thank you payments for hosts

Local authorities will also administer the ‘thank you’ payments for Homes for Ukraine hosts (whether direct through the sponsor scheme or via the Welsh super sponsor scheme and they are now in host arrangements). The UK Government is paying the following rates:

  • Until 1 April 2025, sponsors are eligible to receive thank you payments of £350 per household from the UK Government during the first 12 months of a guest’s arrival in the UK, this increases to £500 a month once guests have been in the UK for 12 months.  
  • After 1 April 2025, all eligible hosts will receive £350 a month per household, irrespective of how long guests have been in the UK. Thank you payments will be available to hosts with guests on the Ukraine Permission Extension (UPE). The UK Government has confirmed that should the UK Government decide to extend the UPE visa there will not be able to make further thank you payments.  

These funding rates are based on the number of months that the Ukrainian person/family has been in the UK not on the number of months a host has hosted for. This funding comes direct from the UK Government for both those hosts having Ukrainians under direct sponsorship or via the Welsh Government super sponsor route. 

UKG guidance confirms the payments will only be made once all safeguarding and property checks are completed and will be made in arrears.  

Where guests move out before the sponsorship period, the sponsor is eligible to claim the monthly payment if the guest has lived in their accommodation for at least half of the month of departure.  

The Welsh Government has also agreed to provide a thank you payment to hosts who sponsor Ukrainian people who originally arrived on the Ukraine family scheme but whose initial housing arrangements have broken down and they have subsequently been placed with an unrelated host family. This is to ensure that Ukraine Family Scheme arrivals are not left without opportunities to be hosted. 

Data returns must therefore identify these cases separately on the Welsh Government funding claim form and they should not be included on the data to inform the claim to UKG for the thank you payments. If an authority finds that it has claimed in error either from UK Government or from the Welsh Government, the Welsh Government should be informed so that adjustments can be made when appropriate. See data collection below. 

As per the UK guidance there will be circumstances where people from Ukraine (who did not come through the family scheme) are re-matched from one host to another. In such circumstances, the monthly payment will be available to the secondary (or tertiary etc.) host.  For example, the initial sponsor may receive 2 months’ payment until a breakdown, with a secondary host receiving 14 months’ payment if the secondary placement lasts that duration.

Welsh Government host “top up” payments

We have agreed an uplift in the “thank you” payment from £350 to £500 a month to all hosts that are hosting a guest during their first year of arrival in the UK. This will be paid via the quarterly claim finance claim forms by the Welsh Government, rather than directly  from UK Government to local authorities. This is effective from 1 April 2025 to 30 March 2026. 

Local authorities will pay the Welsh Government funded £150 top up directly to hosts in addition to the £350 UK Government thank you payments (£500 in total).  

Where a local authority has made a decision to increase thank you payments, it is the local authority’s responsibility to fund any further top ups from their budget. 

For response hosts, the Welsh Government will ensure the host receives a thank you payment for the full 75 days of response hosting. This equates to £500 per month pro rata for the 75 days. If at the end of the guest’s stay there is a shortfall in payment for the 75-day stay, because the guest’s arrival and departure day meant that the host was ineligible for the standard UK Government thank you payment, the Welsh Government will top up the difference.

Distribution of Wales’ share of the £120 million homelessness prevention fund

Wales received a £2.59 million share of the Homelessness Prevention Fund in 2024 to 2025 to help councils address homelessness pressures and support Ukrainians into settled accommodation. This funding has been allocated to local authorities using the following distribution formula and weightings:  

  • a 3-month average of homeless individuals in temporary accommodation as a proportion of the national number worked out as a percentage
  • the number of Ukrainians living in each area as a proportion of the national number worked out as a percentage
  • the accommodated asylum seekers as a proportion of the national number worked out as a percentage 

While there is an expectation this funding will help local authorities support Ukrainians into settled accommodation and reduce the risk of homelessness, the funding is not ring-fenced, and local authorities are able to exercise full discretion locally to support other groups in housing need.

Data collection

UK Government is requesting data returns on a quarterly basis.

These forms include the number of arrivals and break down of ages to inform the transfer of requisite funding to the Welsh Government. It also includes the number of thank you payments paid under the Homes for Ukraine Scheme for the quarter. The latter will be paid direct to local authorities. 

The Nation of Sanctuary: Ukraine Data Platform will capture data such as confirming properties are available, undertaking the checks on property and basic and the completion of enhanced Disclosure and Barring Services checks. We may need to collect additional data for funding purposes, but this will be kept to a minimum and regularly reviewed.

Funding mechanism for funding coming from the Welsh Government

There will be a single funding mechanism for all services delivered for the Ukraine response. This will include the main tariff, initial accommodation unaccompanied minors and any additional funding which has been approved for payment. This will be via a quarterly claim in arrears using a spreadsheet claim form. The funding quarters will be:

  • April 2025 to June 2025
  • July 2025 to September 2025
  • October 2025 to December 2025
  • January 2026 to March 2026

As people from Ukraine under these schemes may move between local authority areas, we are collecting monthly numbers via the Welsh Government funding claim form and will continue to allocate funding accordingly. This means that authorities are not expected to manage this flow of money between themselves. This will also help to reconcile payments with UK Government to reflect people moving across different parts of the UK.

The following categories will be funded through the claim form for those on the Homes for Ukraine scheme (individual Homes for Ukraine sponsors or via super sponsor):

  • £200 initial emergency payment
  • local authority Integration tariff: based on where Ukrainians are living, at a rate of £475 per calendar month
  • £350 per month host payment: exceptional basis for those coming out of the family scheme to a host
  • unaccompanied minors: if in care on a weekly pro rata rate based on £64,150 for the minors first 12 months in care, if leaving care at a flat rate of £16,850
  • welcome accommodation: based on actual costs paid by local authorities (most arrangements are direct with the Welsh Government)
  • additional costs: as agreed with the Welsh Government in advance except in extremis 

We anticipate that any other Welsh Government funding streams will be accommodated within this mechanism if it is appropriate to do so.