Homes for Ukraine: funding

There are several different funding streams for local authorities in 2025 to 2026 to support Ukrainian people in 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
• contingency funding to support local authorities with ongoing costs associated with the Ukraine response

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.

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 who arrived 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 to use at the local authorities’ discretion to support the objectives of the Homes for Ukraine scheme according to local need and expertise. The tariff should only be used to support Ukraine Permission (UPE) Extension guests if they were previously Homes for Ukraine visa holders.

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 integration: 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 appropriate if 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 

The Homes for Ukraine tariff grant is capped at 1 tariff per guest. Councils should not claim tariffs for a guest in respect of whom a tariff has previously been claimed, including where a tariff was previously claimed by a different council. This could occur, for example, if a guest has returned to the UK on a second Homes for Ukraine visa. Councils should ask guests coming into their area for the first time if this is the case to verify whether a tariff was already claimed. 

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.

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. 

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

• 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 (UPE) scheme opened for applications on 4 February 2025.
• Applications to the UPE are 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.  
• Towards the end of the 18 months, Ukrainians can apply for an addition 24-month UPE
• Eligible individuals will need to make an application online. Ukrainians will be able to continue to live, work and study in the UK and access public funds while their application is being processed and once their application is successful. 
• More information on the extension and its process will be updated on Applying to the Ukraine Permission Extension scheme.

Local authorities will administer the ‘thank you’ payments for Homes for Ukraine hosts. The UK Government is paying all eligible hosts £350 a month per household. This includes hosts with guests who arrived in the UK on a Homes for Ukraine visa and has applied for the initial UPE.  Hosts need to reapply for thank payments once their guest(s) applies for the 18-month UPE; all thank you payments will end once the guest(s)’s 18-moth UPE ends. 

The funding for thank you payments comes direct from the UK Government for 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. All Ukraine family scheme host payments will end once the guests 18-month UPE ends. 

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. 

Further guidance for councils on the UK Government’s host thank you payments is available on the UK Government’s website. 

Thank you payments: guests applying for UPE or a different permission route

There are some circumstances in which councils can make thank you payments for a further 6-month period once the guest’s Homes for Ukraine visa expires, where they have applied for UPE or a different visa route. These circumstances are detailed in UK Government guidance (link below), along with guidance on the actions local authorities should take after the six-month period.

Once permission under a non-Ukraine scheme has been granted to a guest, the host is no longer eligible for thank you payments. Councils are not required to make proactive checks to determine whether a guest has been granted an alternative permission type, but payments should stop as soon as the council becomes aware.

Further guidance for councils on thank you payment eligibility criteria for guests applying for UPE or a different permission route is available on the UK Government’s website. 

The Welsh Government will continue to provide monthly £150 host top-ups for first-year arrivals via the Super Sponsor route only. There will be no first-year top-ups for new individual sponsor arrivals from 1 April 2026. 

If a host is already supporting a first-year guest through the individual sponsor route on 31 March 2026, their top up payments will continue until the end of that guest’s initial 12 months 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 2026 to 31 March 2027. 

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).  

This top up is not available to hosts with guests arriving on a second visa. A guest is considered a ‘second visa holder’ only if they hold a second Homes for Ukraine visa and have previously travelled to the UK on their first Homes for Ukraine visa. However, hosts with guests that arrived on a second visa are eligible for the UK Government’s £350 per month host thank you payment, providing all other eligibility criteria applies. 

Where a local authority has decided 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.

The Welsh Government has allocated £1m in 2026-27 to support local authorities with ongoing costs associated with the Ukraine response. 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 (40%)
• the number of Ukrainians living in each area as a proportion of the national number worked out as a percentage (40%)
• the accommodated asylum seekers as a proportion of the national number worked out as a percentage (20%)

The primary purpose of this funding is to support local authorities’ homelessness prevention costs associated with the Ukraine response. This includes: 

• supporting Ukrainians into settled accommodation, including: 
  • supporting move on from hosting arrangements
  • supporting move on of Welsh Government Super Sponsor arrivals from Welcome Accommodation 
• wider homelessness prevention for Ukrainians

The funding may also be used to provide Ukrainians arriving via the Welsh Government super sponsor route with temporary homelessness accommodation if they present as homeless within the first 6 months of arrival in the UK.

While there is an expectation this funding will be used to support Ukrainians into settled accommodation and reduce their risk of homelessness, local authorities can exercise discretion locally to support other groups in the same way. This wider support should be focused on homelessness prevention. 

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.

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 2026 to June 2026
• July 2026 to September 2026
• October 2026 to December 2026
• January 2027 to March 2027

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
• £150 per month host top-up payment: for hosts of super sponsor guests in their first year of arrival in the UK
• 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.