If your guest will be absent temporarily: Homes for Ukraine
What to do if your guest will be temporarily absent from your accommodation.
We recognise that guests may need to be temporarily absent from their sponsor accommodation for various reasons. Before your guests’ departure, we encourage you to discuss arrangements and the length of absence. Where possible, guests should confirm their arrangements for their date of return with you before they travel, or should update you as soon as they can.
Before your guests’ departure, you might also want to discuss how they leave their room or accommodation, for example, you may wish to ask them to leave their belongings tidily and in a way that allows you to still use the room if you need to. You may also wish to have each other’s contact details so that they can communicate and keep you updated about their intended return.
If your guests are away for more than 4 consecutive weeks in a single period, or it has been 4 consecutive weeks and they have not returned, you will need to notify your local council and follow the guidance in the section below.
If your guest is away for less than 4 weeks, you do not need to notify your council. However, if your guest is absent on multiple occasions for fewer than 4 weeks, you should discuss the reasoning for this with your guest and engage with your local authority if you have any concerns.
If your guest is leaving permanently, you must notify your council that the sponsorship arrangement has ended. You should not wait until 4 weeks of absence has passed before notifying the council.
Failure to notify the council of a guest being away for more than 4 consecutive weeks or leaving permanently could result in the relevant council making further investigations to identify fraud and you may have to pay back money should it be found any fraud has occurred.
Guests absent from sponsor accommodation for a continuous period exceeding 4 weeks
If you are sponsoring multiple guests, you must only notify your council of their absence if all guests are absent for more than 4 consecutive weeks, or it has been 4 consecutive weeks and they have not returned.
Once you have notified the council of a guest’s absence your ‘thank you’ payments will be paused. You should notify the council when your guests return and your ‘thank you’ payments will be reinstated. When your payments restart, they will follow the usual monthly in arrears ‘thank you’ payment cycle.
It is your responsibility to update your council of a guest(s)’ absence of over 4 weeks.
If your guest is in receipt of benefits from Department for Work and Pensions, your guest should notify them of any absences from the UK.
Preparing for guest absences of longer than 4 weeks
You and your guests should discuss arrangements in advance of their departure. Conversations could cover:
- whether or not the sponsorship relationship would continue if the guests 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(s) will not return to live there
If you decide you do not want to continue offering your guest accommodation, you should contact your council as soon as possible, following the same process as when a sponsorship is not working out. Your council will end ‘thank you’ payments and get in touch with you to find out if you would be interested in a rematch and hosting a new guest.
You may also want to remind your guest that an absence of more than 4 consecutive weeks could affect their entitlement to any services they are currently receiving. It is therefore a good idea for your guest to contact other government departments that are providing these services before leaving for an extended period.
If your guest intends to leave their child
Where parents/legal guardians have applied through the main 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.
As a sponsor of adults and children (where guests have arrived together as a family) you may not have expected to take care of, or be responsible for, their children, and you will not have had the necessary safeguarding checks.
In very exceptional circumstances when parents or legal guardians can’t travel with their child to the UK, or need to leave their child in the care of the sponsor for 28 days or more, they must take certain steps. Before parents leave their child they must have:
- agreed how long you (the sponsor) will be responsible for the child or children
- your consent to take on additional responsibility of a child under 18 who is not with their parent or legal guardian. The council will send you a form which explains the additional responsibilities
- waited for the council to successfully complete any additional safeguarding checks needed (including a sponsor suitability assessment, relevant DBS checks and accommodation checks) before the child travels to the UK or before the parent or legal guardian leaves their child in the care of the sponsor
Parents or legal guardians should follow the steps above in any circumstance where they intend to leave their child in your care for 28 days or more (or for shorter periods on a regular basis), including if they can’t travel with their child to the UK, if they are returning to Ukraine temporarily, or if they are moving to another UK address for work. The above steps must all be completed before the parent or legal guardian leaves their child.
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.