Paying sponsors: Homes for Ukraine
Making thank you payments to sponsors, including across different councils. Also checking if guests are paying rent to sponsors, and what to do if they are.
Thank you payments to sponsors
Sponsors of Ukrainian guests on a Homes for Ukraine visa are eligible for a monthly payment from the UK government as a thank you for hosting.
Sponsors will receive £350 a month during the first 12 months of their guests’ stay. This increases to £500 once the guest has been in the UK for 12 months, in order to help sponsors who are able to continue hosting for longer. This includes when a sponsor or guest has been rematched, even if it is the sponsor’s first time hosting.
Thank you payments are available to sponsors for the duration of a guest’s Homes for Ukraine visa permission – up to 36 months for sponsors of guests on a 3 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). This is intended to support existing hosts, and to help new hosts to offer support to Ukrainians in the UK who may need a new place to stay, and to give guests who may need it more time to get ready to move into independent accommodation.
The payments will be tax free and should not affect the sponsor’s entitlement to benefits or council tax status.
Some councils may use the funding to top up the ‘thank you’ payment for sponsors. This is a measure government fully supports, although is at their discretion as the tariff funding is un-ringfenced.
Any increase a council choose to make will be tax free if the payment is made to a sponsor hosting a Ukrainian citizen through the Homes for Ukraine sponsorship route, and if the payments were made directly from a local authority in respect of that sponsorship. They will not affect benefit entitlement.
Administering payments to sponsors
Councils will administer these ‘thank you’ payments to sponsors once they are content that the sponsor meets the suitability requirements of the scheme.
Central government will allocate funding for these payments but expects councils to cover administration costs from the tariff, including costs of fraud prevention.
Sponsors that have been marked as unsuitable in the case management system (CMS) after central government or local council checks, will not be eligible to receive the ‘thank you’ payments because the sponsorship arrangement will not be recognised.
Where fraud is identified, councils should use their best endeavours to claw the money back applying their usual counter-fraud and debt collection practices. Councils must ensure that any cases of fraud or error are not included in their claim for funding, regardless of whether monies have been recovered.
How payments are made
We recognise that councils require flexibility to issue payments using the systems best suited to their local arrangements.
Therefore, councils should build in payments as part of their existing workflow processes with sponsors, however they best see fit.
However, councils must ensure that they adhere to the following conditions of payment:
- only the named lead sponsor is eligible for the ‘thank you’ payment
- lead sponsors can claim £350 for the first 12 months from the date that their guest initially arrived in the UK on a Homes for Ukraine visa, and £500 after 12 months for the duration of their guests’ Homes for Ukraine visa permission (which is up to 36 months for arrivals before the visa changes in February 2024, and up to 18 months for those arriving after the visa change which came into effect on 19 February 2024)
- only one monthly payment will be given per residential address, regardless of the number of guests being hosted, size, or location of the property
- payments must only be issued to those lead sponsors where it is confirmed that they have passed the necessary property and safeguarding checks. All 5 set checks in the CMS must have been completed before the council begins the process of issuing the sponsor payment
- fraud checks must be conducted in line with the council’s anti-fraud processes
- lead sponsors are not eligible for the monthly payment if they are charging the guest rent
- in the case of a rematch, the new host is eligible for sponsor payments at either £350 or £500 per month depending on how long the guest has been in the UK, for the outstanding number of months up to the end of the guest’s Homes for Ukraine visa permission (so, if a guest departs their original sponsor and moves into a new host’s home after 12 months after they’ve arrived in the UK, the new host would be eligible for sponsor payments, at £500 per month, for the remainder of their guests Homes for Ukraine visa duration (which is up to 36 months for arrivals before the visa changes in February 2024, and up to 18 months for those arriving after the visa change) as long as the conditions of payment are met)
Whilst there is flexibility for how councils can deliver these payments, examples of how this might be conducted could include:
- confirming with the sponsor that they would like to receive the monthly payments
- making sure the sponsor signs a self-declaration form confirming all details are correct, that they are not charging rent, and that they agree to notify the council of any changes
- conducting all safeguarding and property checks before administering the payment
- conducting the necessary fraud checks, such as checking the sponsor’s identity, cross-referencing this information against relevant council databases to confirm the correct name and address has been provided, requesting a bank statement from the sponsor, and seeking evidence of the guest’s visa
- paying the sponsor monthly in arrears directly into their bank account
The onus in on the sponsor to notify the council of any changes during the 18-month period following the signing of the self-declaration form. Councils should make sure that this is clearly understood by the sponsor and that they understand who they should report any change of circumstances to.
We recommend councils conduct at least one in-person check at the 6-month mark, primarily from a fraud perspective to check the guest is still living in the accommodation, though this is not mandatory and is up to their discretion. Where other property or safeguarding checks are occurring, these can be combined with verifying that the guests still remain at the property.
Councils can use the to ask sponsors to confirm they understand this requirement.
Where a sponsor has been deemed unsuitable, but the guest continues to reside with them, they will not be eligible for the ‘thank you’ payment as they will not be recognised as a sponsor under Homes for Ukraine.
Where guests move out before the full 12-month 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.
Payments across different council areas
The council where the guest resides is responsible for paying the monthly thank you payment to the sponsor.
If the sponsor is within another council area, the two councils should work together to ensure the necessary fraud checks are conducted.
The council responsible for issuing the payment will need to adhere to all the grant conditions but will likely need to rely on the sponsor’s council to cross reference the information against their records.
Check if rent is being charged
Councils should ask the sponsor and guest whether rent is being charged and whether the guest is being asked to provide contributions to food or utilities.
Councils should use their discretion to assess whether these contributions are excessive and, if they constitute rent in practice, councils can decline to make the ‘thank you’ payment.
Councils are responsible for the prevention of fraud of the ‘thank you’ payment at a local level, and this should be conducted in line with usual fraud prevention activities. Costs of counter-fraud activity related to the operation of the scheme are covered within the tariff.
It is recommended that councils conduct a 10% sample of monitoring checks for these payments. Over time councils may wish to raise or lower this depending on the level of risk they identify. These checks can be combined with any other ongoing checks.
Should members of the public suspect fraud is taking place, they should direct their concerns to the relevant council to investigate further.
Last updated 19 February 2024 + show all updates
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Guidance has been updated following changes to the Homes for Ukraine Immigration Rules on 19 February 2024.
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Updated to show that the thank you payment is now payable for up to 3 years after the guest arrives.
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Updated to reflect announcement of UK-wide funding for local authorities and devolved administrations for the 2023/24 financial year.
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First published.