Key principles, scope, and eligibility: Homes for Ukraine
How councils should approach rematching, both for guests who have completed a sponsorship term, and for those seeking a rematch before their agreed term ends.
Rematching key principles
In May 2022, councils were given the ability to rematch Homes for Ukraine guests with new sponsors in certain circumstances during the initial six-month stay. Councils are now able to use rematches to support guests who are not able to continue living with their current host after the initial six-month period.
As demand for rematching increases, we want to ensure that this can happen as effectively and safely as possible for all parties, and that councils and partners are able to operate it with flexibility and discretion. To facilitate this, we have set out several overarching principles for rematching:
- to find suitable accommodation for Homes for Ukraine guests where it is no longer suitable or viable for them to remain in their initial sponsorship arrangements
- that guests who source their own rematch hosts, including with the help of a VCS group, are responsible for notifying the relevant council as soon as possible. The council is then responsible for undertaking the checks as soon as possible, including ones that go across council boundaries, as part of their overall responsibility to ensure sponsor suitability
- that councils may choose to prioritise actively helping to find a new host for those guests they judge to be most in need, for example, where there is an immediate sponsorship breakdown; the sponsor is found to be unsuitable; the individual is particularly vulnerable (such as an 18 or 19-year-old who is in the UK without family); or to prevent someone becoming homeless at the end of their initial stay.
- that all rematches are carried out safely, with the appropriate Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) and accommodation checks completed in advance of a rematch. Where a council becomes aware of a situation where someone has already moved in, this is at the guest’s own risk, but councils should undertake these checks retrospectively, as soon as possible
- that all parties should follow the necessary processes wherever possible, but that councils have flexibility and discretion in recognition of the fact that guests and hosts might not always be aware of guidance and protocols when rematching
Scope and eligibility
Sponsors were initially asked to host guests for a minimum of 6 months, and in most cases we know that sponsorship relationships are being sustained for 6 months or longer. However, while many hosts and guests are choosing to continue sponsorship arrangements beyond this point, and the priority should be to sustain these, this will not always be possible.
Where a guest cannot stay with their current host, and they are not ready to leave sponsorship and move into their own alternative accommodation, they may be able to find a new host, either directly themselves, through the local council, or through a third party, such as a Recognised Provider or other voluntary and community sector (VCS) group, at any time.
Councils may choose to prioritise actively helping guests to find a new host for those cases they judge to be most in need; for example, where there is an immediate sponsorship breakdown, the sponsor is found to be unsuitable, the individual is vulnerable (such as an 18-year-old who is in the UK without family), or to prevent someone being homeless at the end of their initial stay.
Where a guest has identified their own rematch, either directly themselves or through a VCS group, councils are responsible for undertaking the necessary checks as soon as possible to assure themselves the new sponsorship arrangement is suitable, but should not refuse the rematch for any reason other than accommodation, safeguarding or fraud concerns. These checks should be completed in advance on move-in wherever possible, but should be completed retrospectively if the move has already happened. The thank you payment and pro rata transfer of tariff funding will only happen once these checks have been completed.