Grant conditions for scheme funding: Homes for Ukraine
Details on the conditions councils must meet to receive scheme grants. Includes how and when funding payments are reconciled, including across council boundaries.
Applies to England
Funding for the Homes for Ukraine grant payments for English councils has conditions attached, which are set out in grant determinations.
Please see the current Grant Determination Letters which set out the grant conditions.
Grant payments to councils are made in arrears, and are subject to confirmation that guests have arrived and all conditions have been met.
Councils must undertake all necessary safeguarding checks in line with the department’s guidance. Relevant inputs, including whether safeguarding checks have been completed, should be entered in the case management system (CMS) as soon as possible.
In addition, it is a condition of funding that councils provide regular data returns in relation to the Homes for Ukraine scheme, as set out in guidance, including on the number of beneficiaries in their area.
Importantly, payments will not be made where DLUHC is not satisfied that councils are fully complying with relevant grant conditions, including the timely return of data in line with guidance. It is critical that councils record all necessary information in the CMS.
We will continue to collect data relating to the programme in the CMS, we also expect councils to maintain accurate records on the number of guests and sponsorship households in their area.
You can read more on the need for updating of data regularly in Recording safeguarding and accommodation checks in the case management system.
There are additional conditions for the grants listed below.
Conditions for the thank you grant
In section 31(5) of the Local Government Act 2003, the Secretary of State determines that the grant will be paid subject to the following conditions:
1. Payments to sponsors should only be paid in accordance with circumstances set out in guidance in Thank you payments to sponsors . It should not be released until:
a) a visit to the sponsoring household property, by the local council, has been completed; and
b) the local council has confirmed that the accommodation is suitable, that the guest is well and that there are no serious safeguarding or welfare concerns.
2. A recipient council must ensure thank you payments to eligible sponsoring households who request them are made as soon as practicable.
Conditions for the £10,500 (£5,900 from 1 January 2023) tariff grant
In section 31(5) of the Local Government Act 2003, the Secretary of State determines that the grant will be paid subject to the following conditions:
1. A recipient council must use the funding to carry out the activities, as set out in the Homes for Ukraine guidance, including completing all 5 safeguarding and accommodation checks, including Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks, on sponsors and the property in line with the department’s guidance as soon as practicable, and record these 5 checks on the CMS.
2. A recipient council must use the funding to support children with a Homes for Ukraine visa who are not travelling with or joining their parent or legal guardian, as set out in the Homes for Ukraine guidance for councils in relation to children and minors applying without parents or legal guardians. This includes: confirming the two forms of parental consent required have been provided; carrying out the required safeguarding and accommodation checks including a sponsor suitability assessment as soon as practicable in line with the department’s and private fostering guidance, and recording these checks on the Foundry system; and carrying out the required post-arrival and ongoing checks.
3. A recipient council must commission or provide services that ensure guests and sponsors are provided with a source of advice and support to assist with registering for mainstream benefits and services, including where necessary specialist public health services and community integration.
4. In two-tier areas, upper-tier councils must agree a plan locally to:
a) make payments to lower-tier councils in relation to all the services which they provide to guests under the Homes for Ukraine Scheme, during the full duration of the scheme, including for services such as homelessness assistance for which lower-tier councils are responsible; and
b) make an immediate payment to lower-tier councils in relation to any upfront costs.
5. A recipient council must provide regular data returns in relation to the Homes for Ukraine Scheme, as set out in guidance. For example:
a) entering relevant data in the CMS as soon as possible
b) that Section 151 officers must sign off quarterly returns to DLUHC which include: Management Information (MI) data to indicate how many people are moving in or out of the area; the number of thank you payments made to sponsoring households; and confirmation that conditions have been met
Conditions for both grants
Where the amount of grant paid to a council exceeds their actual pressures (based on the number of guests resident in their area), the difference shall be repaid to the Secretary of State. In addition, if the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities is made aware that a council is in breach of the grant conditions above, it reserves the right to recover funding. There will be a reconciliation process at the end of the 2022-23 financial year.
Reconciliation
DLUHC has conducted a funding reconciliation exercise at the end of the 2022-23 financial year to ensure that funding was allocated accurately and fairly between local authorities.
In cases where the reconciliation found that a council was over-funded, DLUHC will recover the excess funding. If a council was under-funded, DLUHC will provide additional funding. All funding will be reconciled in full.
To facilitate this process, we commissioned upper-tier council to provide a data return.
For the £10,500 (£5,900 from 1st January 2023) tariff payments, DLUHC has reconciled funding based on the actual number of new guests who have arrived in a council area over the course of the year, adjusted for any ratified rematches into or out of the local authority. We are not reconciling based on expenditure incurred.
For the thank you payments, DLUHC has reconciled based on the number of monthly payments made. We have also reconciled additional tariff funding provided in relation to guests who are unaccompanied minors that have been placed into the care of a council, as well as any guests who have been placed into the care of a council and leave the care system once they reach the age of 18.
Reconciliation in rematching across council boundaries
- Guests on the scheme may move across council boundaries over the course of the year due to being rematched with a new sponsor.
- The reconciliation process has accounted for movements of guests between ratified sponsorships that cross local authority borders, whereby the destination local authority agreed to the transfer. This includes a rematch which is organised by a guest themselves, which is then subsequently ratified by the relevant authorities.
- Tariff funding has been pro-rated on a monthly basis, subject to the length of a guest’s stay within an authority.
- The facilitation of this process was subject to councils providing accurate data at the end of the financial year, as noted above. Where the amount of grant paid to an authority differs from the pro-rated entitlement based on the number of guests who have moved in or out of the local authority, DLUHC may recover funding or provide extra funding to ensure that councils receive their correct entitlement.
- In advance of the reconciliation exercise, we collected information from councils about rematches across council boundaries as part of the quarterly data collection exercises which inform payments, for the department to understand the movement of guests across the country better.
Last updated 13 September 2023 + show all updates
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Updated to reflect that a funding reconciliation exercise was conducted at the end of the 2022/23 financial year.
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First published.