Homes for Ukraine - support for hosts

After you register your interest in becoming a host for the Homes for Ukraine scheme, we will contact you to arrange a free DBS check for every person over 16 that lives in your home (not the arriving refugees).

If you are using an unoccupied property for the scheme, we will still need to do a free DBS check for you but may not need to check the other members of your family.

We will prioritise your checks if you already have Ukrainian nationals staying with you.

You can find out more about eligibility, safeguarding, DBS and accommodation checks on GOV.UK.

If you have lived overseas in the past 5 years, a Certificate of Good Conduct will be required alongside the DBS check. You can find out more about the criminal records checks for overseas applicants on GOV.UK.

Your local council will contact you to arrange a convenient time for the inspection.

They will check to make sure the property:

• is clean, warm, safe and in a reasonable state
• has an empty room and adequate space for your guest.
  • Two adults cannot share a bedroom unless they are adult cohabiting partners.
  • Two children aged 0 to 9 years can share a bedroom whatever their sex.
  • Two children aged 0 to 15 years can share a bedroom if they are the same sex.
  • Otherwise, children must have separate bedrooms.
  • Children 16 years and above must have their own bedroom.
  • Parents can share a bedroom with their child/ren up to 10 years old.
  • A bed in a shared space is not an appropriate offer of accommodation for 6 months for hosts or guests.
  • People who didn’t previously know each other should not be given the same room.
• has adequate kitchen and bathroom space
• has access to drinking water
• has a working smoke detector on each floor of the property and other fire safety precautions suitable for the building, for example fire doors or escape routes as appropriate (read more about making a home safe from fire)
• has a working carbon monoxide detector in any room containing a solid fuel burning appliance, for example, a coal fire or wood burning stove
• has sufficient heating to keep the property at a comfortable temperature
• has had the appropriate checks. A gas safety certificate is not mandatory, though you might need one if you have cause for concern. A gas safe registered engineer can do this for you (this safety check should have been made within the last year)
• has safe and working electrics, which a qualified electrician can help with if you are unsure
• is almost entirely free of damp or mould
• has doors and windows at entry level that lock properly
• is easy and safe to move around in, without excessively steep staircases that may cause harm.

The visit should last around one hour and you should hear back from us with any issues you need to address within 48 hours.

You can find out more about the basic accommodation needs for Homes for Ukraine on GOV.UK.

If you are looking to employ your guests, the accommodation must be:

• suitable for the guest and their household, including for any children
• offered for a minimum period of 6 months
• offered free of any obligation to work
• rent free. No deductions should be made from the National Minimum Wage in lieu of rent.

Free home fire safety checks

The Kent Fire and Rescue Service (KFRS) are supporting hosts by offering free home fire safety visits. The visit may include:

• installing fire alarms
• installing a carbon monoxide alarm
• fire safety advice.

To find out more, visit the KFRS website and quote KFRSUkraine when booking.

Complete this form to tell us your guests have arrived. We will then arrange a welfare check as soon as possible to make sure that everything is okay and to see if you need any further support.

If you are unable to complete the form, please call us on 03000 419820.

Your guests need to have access to their own UK mobile phone before we can make any welcome payments.

Once we have contacted your guests via their UK mobile telephone number we can then make a £200 per person welcome payment.

We will contact you to arrange your payments when if eligible:

• all of the checks have been completed
• we've received a satisfactory DBS certificate for each eligible person in your home
• you've told us that your guests have arrived.

For new payment applications from 1 October 2024, sponsors who are in (or later form) a close family relationship with their guests will not be eligible for payment.

If you haven't heard from us and we have already completed your checks, we will be in touch soon and payments will be backdated to the date your guests arrived. You'll receive a payment for each calendar month where you have hosted for more than 16 days.

Payments from 1 April 2025

Due to changes in guidance all monthly thank you payments will be a flat rate of £350 a month from 1 April 2025.

If your guests choose to apply for Ukraine Permission Extension at the point of their Homes for Ukraine visa a new payment application can be made.

The exceptions to this new payment application are:

• sponsors or hosts whose guests are close family members and are currently in receipt of thank you payments whilst their guests hold Homes for Ukraine visas will no longer be eligible for thank you payments once they make a new payment claim.
• the guest is paying rent
• the guest is working for the sponsor or host or providing services in lieu of rent
• the sponsors accommodation would not meet the minimum statutory expectation for housing as set out in the Housing Act 2004.

If your guests leave your home temporarily for 4 weeks or more, or leave without a return date, you need to let us know so we can suspend your payments. Tell us your guests have left temporarily.

When they come back, you'll need to tell us your guests have returned and reapply for payments. Since 1 October 2024, sponsors who are in (or later form) a close family relationship with their guests will not be eligible for payments to be restarted.

Children being left without the parent they travelled with

Parents and sponsors must contact us before making any arrangements for guest children to be left without the parent they travelled with. It is especially important that parents do not leave the country before contacting us.

There are both legal and safeguarding implications for these arrangements and therefore it is important that you discuss this with the team to make sure that you have the correct information and are aware of the steps you must take.

Please contact ukrainesafeguarding@kent.gov.uk or call 03000 41 98 20 and request a call back from the safeguarding team.

Practical advice

It’s really important that you support your guest to access things that are important to everyday life. We have put together a list of services that your guest may need to use.

The government have issued guidance for guests which includes specific information for those arriving on the Homes for Ukraine scheme.

Visit the supporting your guest section of the Reset website for information and guidance.

Read the guide for new refugees on GOV.UK.

Visas

Visa applications are managed by the Home Office and we have no access to the visa system or the ability to escalate visa enquiries. If you'd like support with your guest's visa, call the Home Office's visa helpline on 0808 164 8810 and press option 1.

English with Ukrainians

You may want to watch some of the videos on a YouTube channel called English with Ukrainians, where Ukrainian translators have translated lessons and discussed language and cultural differences. There are also activities that are suitable for you to do with your Ukrainian guests.

When your guests have been in the UK for 4 months, we encourage you to speak to them about their next steps as the scheme is focussing on longer term sustainable accommodation.

You may want to:

• continue hosting
• agree to rent your room or 2nd home to them
• help your guests find rented private accommodation.

Two months before your placement is due to end, speak to your support worker about what you're planning to do. They will then be able to support your guests if they're moving on, or arrange for your thank you payments to continue. You need to keep us informed, especially if your plans change.

Continue hosting

If you continue to host, you will receive thank you payments for up to a maximum of 3 years from your guest's visa issue date for all applications made before 19 February 2024 and a maximum of 18 months from guest visa issue date for applications made after 19 February 2024 . You will receive £350 a month for the duration of hosting.

If you arrange to host a guest without the agreement of the local council, you won’t be able to claim the thank you payment, because the arrangement is outside of the Homes for Ukraine Scheme.

Renting private accommodation

Private accommodation and social housing is in high demand. Some councils are using the funding they have received from the government to help Ukrainian guests get private rented accommodation. This may include paying rent in advance or providing a deposit. If your guests are ready to rent but are struggling to get a place of their own, they should contact your local district or borough council to find out what support is available in your area.

Rent a room

If you would like to continue to support your guest, you could move to a more formal arrangement. For example, you could rent a room in your home through the government's Rent a Room Scheme or you may wish to rent another property that you own to your guest.

This would mean you may need to become a landlord, which would require you taking on more responsibility. If you charged rent, you would not be able to claim the thank you payment as well.

Further information is available on GOV.UK explaining how you can:

• Rent a Room in your home
• Rent out your property

If your guests leave your home you need tell us your guests have left so that we can stop your payments.