Guidance

Homes for Ukraine scheme (2023-24) local authority tariff payment grant determination No. 31/6904 (England)

Published 31 October 2023

The Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (“Secretary of State”) in exercise of the powers conferred by section 31 of the Local Government Act 2003, makes the following determination:

Citation

1. This determination may be cited as the Homes for Ukraine tariff grant No. 31/6904.

Purpose of the grant

2. The purpose of the Homes for Ukraine tariff grant is to provide a per-person tariff to support local authorities to provide wrap-around support to individuals and families to rebuild their lives and fully integrate into communities. The tariff amount is £10,500 for guest arrivals on or prior to 31 December 2022, and £5,900 for arrivals on or after 1 January 2023. For eligible minors (any individual who is under 18 who has already applied for the Homes for Ukraine Scheme who is not travelling with or joining a parent or legal guardian), the tariff remains at £10,500 for arrivals on or after 1 January 2023 for the first year of their stay. The tariff amount is £6,100 for the second year of an eligible minor’s stay. Annex B contains details of local authorities’ responsibilities under the Homes for Ukraine Scheme, in line with the Guidance for Councils.

3. A reconciliation process was conducted in Q4 to ensure that tariff funding was allocated accurately and fairly between local authorities. This process accounted for movements of guests between ratified rematches that crossed local authority or nation borders. For a rematch to be considered ratified, the destination local authority must have agreed to the transfer. This may include a rematch which was organised by a guest themselves, which was then subsequently ratified by the relevant authorities. Tariff funding was pro-rated on a monthly basis, subject to the length of a guest’s stay within an authority. The funding that local authorities received in Q4 was adjusted to account for this reconciliation process.

4. The facilitation of the reconciliation process was subject to local authorities providing accurate data through their Q4 returns. Where the amount of grant paid to an authority differed from the pro-rated entitlement based on the number of guests who have moved in or out of the local authority, the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities recovered funding, or provided extra funding, via the Q4 payments, to ensure that local authorities received their correct entitlement.

Determination

5. The Secretary of State determines the authorities to which grant is to be paid and the amount of grant to be paid as set out in Annex A of this determination.

6. The grant will be paid in full and in arrears, based on actual data on guest arrivals. Payments will be made in full every quarter, to capture new arrivals in each quarter.

7. In two tier areas, the grant will be paid to upper tier authorities.

Grant conditions

8. Pursuant to 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 in Annex C.

HM Treasury consent

9. Before making this determination in relation to local authorities, the Secretary of State obtained the consent of HM Treasury.

Signed by authority of the Secretary of State.

Emma Payne

Director, Homes for Ukraine Programme

UK government branding

10. The Grant Recipient shall at all times during and following the end of the Funding Period:

• comply with requirements of the Branding Manual in relation to the Funded Activities; and

• cease use of the Funded by UK Government logo on demand if directed to do so by the Authority.

11. Branding Manual means the HM Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland ‘Funded by UK Government branding manual’ first published by the Cabinet Office in November 2022 including any subsequent updates from time to time.

Annex A: Grant allocations

Grant allocations are attached as a separate document.

Annex B: Local authority responsibilities under the Homes for Ukraine Scheme

Local authorities have a number of important functions in supporting the Homes for Ukraine scheme. Local authorities will be expected to offer the categories of support listed below:

• Initial reception

• Data sharing

• Safeguarding checks

• Interim payment for guest

• Provision of education

• Service referrals

• Work and benefits

• Homelessness assistance

• Move on support, including supporting access to the private rented sector

• Community integration

• Administering payments to sponsors

• Facilitating rematching

• Supporting minors not travelling with or joining their parents in the UK

Local authorities have the discretion to spend the tariff on activities outside of this list, providing that it is used to support the Homes for Ukraine scheme.

The Department has published updated guidance on the Homes for Ukraine scheme. This guidance outlines the role of local authorities across England in supporting the Homes for Ukraine scheme and includes further detail on the categories of support listed above. Local authorities should continue to check and follow any updated guidance.

Annex C: Grant conditions

Pursuant to 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 authority 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 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 Foundry system. Where a potential safeguarding concern is identified, local authorities may be asked to carry out accommodation checks in advance of a visa application being approved. Local authorities are asked to carry out the accommodation checks quickly so visas can be issued. For more information please see the guidance on Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks: Homes for Ukraine.

2. Where the tariff is provided for an eligible minor’s arrival, a recipient authority 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 authority 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. A recipient authority must use the funding to support guests into post-sponsorship accommodation. Updated guidance was published on 16 January 2023 (“Private rented accommodation and alternative accommodation: Homes for Ukraine”). The form and range of this support will differ depending on the local area and could include, but is not limited to, measures such as: commissioning or providing advice services to guests and sponsors on affordability and how to find accommodation in the private rental sector, financial support with rental deposits/advances, acting as a guarantor, and encouraging landlords to rent properties to guests.

5. In two tier areas, upper tier authorities must agree a plan locally to:

• make payments to lower tier authorities 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 authorities are responsible; and

• make an immediate payment to lower tier authorities in relation to any upfront costs.

6. A recipient authority must provide regular data returns in relation to the Homes for Ukraine Scheme, as set out in guidance. For example:

• entering relevant data on Foundry regularly, and at a minimum, weekly. We require more robust data in all fields (including safeguarding and rematching updates), but particularly on guests leaving sponsorship (e.g., due to entering the private rental sector or leaving the UK), where LA data input has sometimes been irregular.

• that Section 151 officers must sign off quarterly returns to the Department which include: data to indicate how many people are moving in/out of the area; the number of ‘thank you’ payments made to sponsoring households; the number of unaccompanied minors resident within the LA, including the number of children who have been taken into the care of the local authority and the number of care leavers the authority is supporting; information on fraud and error that has been identified and recovered by the LA; and information on how the LA is spending the tariff (including a breakdown of spend across key categories) and confirmation that conditions have been met.

• the guidance sets out data sharing requirements in more detail and will be updated in due course. Timely and accurate data reporting from LAs is beneficial in helping to support understanding of how the scheme is operating locally, so that DLUHC can better support the scheme centrally.

7. Where the amount of grant paid to an authority exceeds the authority’s 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 is made aware that an authority is in breach of the grant conditions above, it reserves the right to recover funding. The Homes for Ukraine arrival tariff is not ringfenced to a specific financial year.

8. Tariff funding can be claimed in full on a guest’s arrival, prior to all checks on the host being completed, but all relevant checks must be carried out promptly following a guest’s arrival.

9. The Department will continue to keep the approach to data monitoring under review, and will update guidance on data returns accordingly.

Annex D: Homes for Ukraine guidance for councils

Homes for Ukraine: guidance for councils

Homes for Ukraine: guidance for councils (children and minors applying without parents or legal guardians)