Guidance

Homes for Ukraine Scheme (2023-24) local authority tariff payment grant determination No. 31/7374 (England)

Published 26 July 2024

The Secretary of State for Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (“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. 31/7374.
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, including new arrivals on the 18-month Homes for Ukraine visa (following the visa changes announced on 19 February 2024). For eligible minors on the Homes for Ukraine scheme (an individual who is under 18 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. Local authorities are also eligible to claim for a second-year tariff for eligible minors of £6,100. Annex B contains details of local authorities’ responsibilities under the Homes for Ukraine Scheme, in line with the Guidance for Councils.

3. Another year end reconciliation exercise was conducted this quarter (Q4) to ensure that tariff funding paid in financial year 2023/24 has been allocated accurately and fairly, accounting for ratified rematches across local authority borders and nations. The funding that local authorities receive this quarter has been adjusted to account for this reconciliation process.

Determination

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

5. 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, using the existing quarterly payment process on DELTA.

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

Grant conditions

7. 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

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

9. Signed by authority of the Secretary of State.

Sarah Barrett, Director of Resettlement, MHCLG

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

Homes for Ukraine local authority funding allocations January to March 2024 (England).

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
• Support into work and accessing benefits
• Homelessness assistance
• Move on support, including supporting access to the private rented sector
• Community integration
• Administering Thank You payments to eligible 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, provided that it is used to support the objectives of the Homes for Ukraine scheme.

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 set out in the Homes for Ukraine guidance, including completing all safeguarding and accommodation checks on sponsors and the property as soon as practicable, and recording these 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 attached guidance: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/local-council-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 departments and private fostering guidance and recording these checks on the Foundry system; and carrying out the required post-arrival and ongoing checks.

3. If a minor has come with a parent/guardian to the UK under the Homes for Ukraine scheme and is subsequently left by their parent/guardian, local authorities are asked to ‘reclassify’ these minors as Eligible Minors (as set out in the Homes for Ukraine: Guidance (children and minors applying without parents or legal guardians). In respect of minors who arrived after 01 January 2023, local authorities are able to claim additional funding to ‘top up’ the tariff from £5.9k to the higher rate of £10.5k, reflecting the additional costs incurred in undertaking relevant checks and safeguarding the minor. Payment is contingent on local authorities confirming on Foundry that that all Eligible Minor checks (confirmation of parental consent, Enhanced DBS checks, Accommodation suitability check and Sponsorship suitability assessment) have been completed and passed successfully, and on completing ongoing visits (at intervals of not more than 6 weeks for the first year, and at intervals of not more than 12 weeks in subsequent years) as set out in the above guidance.

4. 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.

5. A recipient authority could use the funding to support guests into post-sponsorship accommodation. 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.

6. 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.

7. 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 local authority 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 eligible minors resident within the local authority, 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 local authority; and information on how the local authority 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. Timely and accurate data reporting from local authorities is beneficial in helping to support understanding of how the scheme is operating locally, so that MHCLG can better support the scheme centrally. The department will continue to keep the approach to data monitoring under review and will update guidance on data returns accordingly.

8. 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.

9. 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.

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)