Guests temporarily absent from their sponsor’s accommodation: Homes for Ukraine
Information about what to do if your guest will temporarily be absent from the UK.
Applies to England
We recognise guests may need to be absent temporarily from their sponsor accommodation for various reasons. We encourage guests and sponsors to discuss arrangements and the length of absence in advance of the guest’s departure.
Where guests will be away for an extended period, sponsors may wish to ask the guest to leave their belongings tidily and in a way that would allow the sponsor to use the room in their absence. Sponsors may also wish to ask the guests to confirm the details of their intended date of return. Where possible, guests should confirm arrangements for their date of return with their sponsor before they travel. We recognise this will not always be possible, in which case once they have been made guests should keep their sponsors updated on their plans to return.
If a guest’s absence is under 4 weeks, sponsors are not required to notify their council. However, if a guest is absent on multiple occasions for fewer than 4 weeks, the sponsor should discuss the reasoning for this with their guest and engage with their local authority if they have any concerns.
If guests are expected to be away for more than 4 weeks, or do not return within 4 weeks, sponsors should then follow the guidance in the section below (‘guests absent from sponsor accommodation for a continuous period exceeding 4 weeks’).
If sponsors decide not to continue with the sponsorship relationship they should contact their council as soon as possible, following the same process as when a sponsorship is not working out. Councils should pause ‘thank you’ payments and establish the sponsor’s interest in seeking a rematch.
Guests may need to arrange alternative accommodation or find a rematch if they are planning to return after their absence and their sponsor does not wish for them to return to the original matching relationship. If guests have found a rematch, councils will need to ratify the match and perform the necessary checks in line with existing rematching guidance.
Guests absent from sponsor accommodation for a continuous period exceeding 4 weeks
In situations where all guests plan to be absent from their sponsor’s accommodation for more than 4 weeks, or 4 weeks have passed and no guests have returned, the sponsor is required to notify their council of the absence. Councils should then pause the thank you payments to the sponsor.
The responsibility rests with the sponsor to update their council of guest absences of over 4 weeks. Failure to do so could result in the relevant council making further investigations.
Preparing for guest absences of longer than 4 weeks
Sponsors and guests should discuss arrangements in advance of the guests’ departure. Conversations could cover:
- Whether or not the sponsorship relationship would continue the arrangement if the guest wished to return after 4 weeks’ absence
- Whether the guest has flexibility to change their travel dates
- Where to store the guests’ belongings, and how to return them if the guest will not return to live there
When guests return, sponsors can subsequently contact their council to request for the ‘thank you’ payments to restart. Councils retain flexibility to conduct checks if they deem it appropriate in order to restart these payments. When payments restart councils will follow the usual monthly in arrears ‘thank you’ payment cycle.
Where fraud is identified, councils should use their best endeavours to claw the money back applying their usual counter-fraud and debt collection practices.
Guests should also contact their local council to find out whether their temporary absence may affect entitlement to any services they are currently receiving.
If guests go abroad, they can continue to get Universal Credit for up to 1 month.
They must:
- be eligible for Universal Credit when they are going abroad
- remain eligible for it while they are abroad
- tell their work coach that they are going and let them know when they return
How to respond when a guest does not arrive in the UK when expected
If there is no record that guest has arrived in the UK, you should assume they are most likely not in the country. As you cannot complete on Foundry the check that requires you to confirm the guest has arrived and is in the accommodation, the ‘thank you’ payment should not be paid and the tariff payment should not be claimed.
How to respond when a guests’ whereabouts is unknown, and you are concerned about their wellbeing
Local authorities are not responsible for tracking the location of guests when their whereabouts is unknown unless the local authority is concerned about a child or an adult at risk due to care and support needs. It should be recognised that risk may arise by virtue of going missing.
If you are concerned that there are suspicious circumstances or the person may have suffered harm or will suffer harm, you must liaise with local police. Police will assess risk on the basis of a framework published by the College of Policing that will determine the level of police activity.
If a child goes missing, you should follow existing statutory guidance, including the Runaway and Missing from Home and Care (RMFHC) protocol you have agreed with local police and other partners. Any unaccompanied children who go missing should be immediately reported to the police.
If you are concerned about an adult at risk due to care or support needs, you should additionally liaise with your adult social care teams who will assess whether you have a responsibility under the Care Act 2014.
The local authority where the person is located should consider whether they have any statutory safeguarding responsibility. If you have reason to believe that a child or adult at risk is in your locality, for example, because the original sponsor resides there or you are receiving tariff payment in respect of the guest, you should liaise with your child or adult protection teams.
The Taskforce may have useful relevant information relating to the guest. This might include date and port of arrival, the make-up of the household, and links with other local authority areas. If further information on the guest would be helpful to you to establish whether a statutory safeguarding duty might arise, please raise a JIRA ticket.
Claiming a tariff payment when a guests’ whereabouts is unknown
A tariff payment should only be claimed where the s.151 Officer is assured that the guest is ordinarily resident in your local authority area. If a guest does not arrive in your area, you should not claim the payment.
Where guests have crossed a local authority or devolved administration boundary because of a ratified rematch during their first year, we will fund the first local authority for the number of months that the guest resided in your area and fund the second local authority for the number of months the guest resided there. Local authorities should count the number of full calendar months a guest was in sponsorship in their area. If a guest was in the local authority for partial months, the local authority should claim for an additional month if the additional days total 16 or more. This funding will be apportioned at reconciliation time.
Thank you payment
The thank you payment only becomes payable to those lead sponsors where it is confirmed that the guest has arrived, and the sponsor has passed the necessary property and safeguarding checks. All checks within the CMS must be completed before the council begins the process of issuing the sponsor payment. If a guest leaves whilst in sponsorship, the sponsor is eligible for payment for more than half a month of hosting.
If a guest intends to leave their child
Where parents/legal guardians have applied through the main Homes for Ukraine scheme they should travel and stay with their children. Once in the UK, guests should not leave their child in the care of a sponsor (or an accompanying adult relative) for a period of 28 days or more. Guests should also not leave their child in the care of a sponsor (or an accompanying relative) for shorter periods on a regular basis.
If exceptional circumstances mean that the parent(s)/legal must leave their child in the care of a sponsor, guidance is clear that they should agree this with the sponsor and inform the council in advance so they can carry out additional sponsor suitability checks.
Where councils are notified that a child will be or is already in the UK without their parent/guardian and outside the Homes for Ukraine eligible minors scheme you should:
- flag the newly identified unaccompanied minor on Foundry
- secure parental or legal guardian consent for the sponsorship arrangements
- carry out the safeguarding and sponsorship suitability checks required by the eligible minors scheme
- confirm that the sponsor understands their role
- carry out regular welfare checks on the sponsor and child to ensure the ongoing suitability of the sponsorship arrangements
This applies in all instances where it is known or intended that the child will be without their parent(s)/legal guardian in the care of a sponsor for a period of 28 days or longer, or when the parent(s)/legal guardian intends to leave the child in the care of a sponsor for shorter periods on a regular basis.
Last updated 13 September 2023 + show all updates
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Information added advising that parents / legal guardians must not leave their children in the care of the sponsor for a prolonged time or repeatedly.
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First published.