Living with your sponsor: Homes for Ukraine
How to live with your sponsor, what to expect from them and what to do if things don't work out.
Before you arrive
When you speak to your sponsor before you arrive, talk to them about how you would like to spend your first days in your new area. You might want some quiet time to rest, or you might want to see the local area or organise essentials like:
- food
- toiletries
- a bank account
- access to a phone or the internet
- access to benefits or getting a job
- arranging for your children to go to a local school
When you feel more settled, talk to your sponsor about the basic arrangements for living together. You should talk about any agreements you need to make about:
- using shared areas of the house, like the kitchen and dining room
- sharing housework, like cleaning and cooking
- any rules your hosts would like you to follow about things like smoking, drinking alcohol, or noise
Adjusting to life in the UK
Your sponsor will be able to help you adjust to life in the UK. As well as being able to give you a room or rooms, they will also want to make sure that you’re comfortable and have everything you need. They may be able to take you to get these things or tell you where you can buy them from.
Your sponsor will also know a lot about the area you’re staying in and can help you to find places like:
- local schools for your children
- doctors
- dentists
- shops
- churches
- community centres
- council offices
They might not know everything about the services you want, but they should be able to tell you who to get in touch with to find out more.
The local council need to make more checks on your sponsor and the accommodation to make sure that you are kept safe. These checks include Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks and may be made at different stages of your journey to the UK.
Someone from the local council will visit you not long after you arrive at your sponsor’s home. This is to check that you arrived safely and that the accommodation you are living in is suitable and that you are comfortable.
If you have questions about local services that you want to access, you can ask the people from the council when they visit. They might not have the answer but will tell you who can help you.
If you need to leave temporarily
We understand that you may need to spend time away from your accommodation for various reasons. Before you leave, we encourage you to discuss your arrangements and how long you plan to leave for with your sponsor. Where possible you should let your sponsor know when you plan to return before you travel or should update them as soon as you can.
Before you leave your sponsor might also want to discuss how you leave your room or accommodation, for example, they may ask you to leave your belongings tidily and in a way that allows your sponsor to still use the room if they need to. You may also wish to have ach others contact details so that you can stay in touch and keep them updated about when you plan to return.
If you go abroad, you can continue to get Universal Credit for up to one month. You must:
- be eligible for Universal Credit when you’re going abroad
- remain eligible for it while you’re abroad
- tell your work coach that you’re going, and let them know when you return
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, you should not leave your child in the care of a sponsor (or an accompanying adult relative) for a period of 28 days or more. You 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 you must leave your child in the care of a sponsor, you must take certain steps. Before you leave your child or children you must have:
- agreed how long the sponsor will be responsible for your children
- got the consent of the sponsor to take on additional responsibility as a sponsor of a child under 18
- told the council and give them written consent. You should use this version of the UK sponsorship arrangement consent form
- waited for the council to successfully complete any additional safeguarding checks required (including a sponsor suitability assessment) before the child travels to the UK or before the parent or legal guardian leaves their child in the care of the sponsor.
You should follow the steps above for any situation where you need to leave your child in the care of your sponsor for 28 days or more, or for shorter periods on a regular basis. The above steps should all be completed before you leave your child.
What to expect from your host
Your sponsor will receive a monthly payment from the UK government as a thank you for hosting. Hosts will receive £350 a month during the first 12 months of your stay. This increases to £500 once you have been in the UK for 12 months in order to help sponsors who are able to continue for hosting longer, or if you need a new host after that point.
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 three 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).
If you move to a new sponsor, the host will receive the payment amount according to your total length of stay in the UK.
There can only be on payment per residential address and in England will be administered through your local council. So your host will receive one payment - either £350 or £500 - in total for either an individual or a family group of guests.
Sponsors are not expected to use this money to pay for food, or other support, for you. Your sponsor is not allowed to charge you rent while you are staying with them but they may ask you to make a reasonable contribution towards food and other household expenses during your stay
If you think you are being asked to contribute an unreasonable amount of money, speak to your local council.
Your £200 arrival payment does not need to be paid to your host either. This is to help you get some essentials when you arrive.
Occasionally things do go wrong and if they do, it may be something simple that can be resolved with a conversation with your host. If your host asks you to leave or you decide to leave, you can speak to your local council who will work with you to find alternative accommodation.
If your living arrangements aren’t working out
If your sponsorship ends because you are not getting on with your host or you are worried it is about to end because of this, contact your local council as soon as possible.
There are different ways your local council could help you. For example, they may offer you:
- advice (how to talk to your host, or what options are available to you)
- emergency housing
- to rematch you with a new sponsor
The help they offer depends on how urgent your needs are and if you are homeless.
You may be helped sooner if any of the following apply to your situation:
- you or someone you live with is pregnant
- dependent children live with you
- or you are assessed by the local council as vulnerable, for example because of old age or disability
You can find out how to get help if you’re homeless or about to become homeless.
Last updated 19 February 2024 + show all updates
-
Guidance has been updated following changes to the Homes for Ukraine Immigration Rules on 19 February 2024.
-
Updated to show that the thank you payment is now payable for up to 3 years after the guest arrives.
-
Information added advising parents / legal guardians to not leave their children in the care of the sponsor for a prolonged time or repeatedly.
-
Added translation