How guests find new hosts, and continuing sponsorship: Homes for Ukraine
How guests can find rematches, and the how councils can support them. Includes how sponsors can continue to host.
Guests on the Homes for Ukraine scheme who are not ready to leave sponsorship and move into their own alternative accommodation, but can’t stay with their current host, should try to find a new host.
This will broadly work the same as the current process for domestic rematching, however we will encourage guests who would like a new host to find the new host for themselves, rather than local councils entirely managing the rematching process.
If a guest requests a move to a different area of the UK, this should be agreed with the receiving council in advance. If a move happens without prior agreement of the receiving local council, we would encourage them to support this where possible as part of their overall responsibility to ensure sponsor suitability and undertake these checks retrospectively, as soon as possible.
New sponsors/hosts who choose to host a guest will be eligible to receive the monthly thank you payment once they have had the necessary safeguarding and accommodation checks and as long as they are not in a close family relationship with their guest.
Guests are encouraged to get in touch with their local council to tell them that their current stay is ending, 2 months before the end of their stay.
If they are finding it difficult to find a new host themselves, they may also get in touch with their local council for help to find a new host for a further 6-month stay.
Depending on how a guest finds a new host, the local council’s role would be as follows:
- making the relevant checks and approving new hosts that guests have already found
- helping guests to find a new host, either through the Expression of Interest (EOI) list or other pools of hosts known to local councils
- directing guests to third-party organisations, for example local charities or community groups, who can help find a new host (councils should liaise with these groups to ensure that they have capacity before making referrals).
- for each route, the local council should complete necessary checks in advance of a guest moving in, in line with wider rematching policy
To increase the pool of available hosts, we will be asking individuals who are willing to host a guest for a minimum of 6 months to register their interest.
We will continue working with local councils on this process and how it will operate at scale as the number of guests seeking new hosts increase.
Continuing sponsorship
Many hosts are choosing to continue to sponsor their guests beyond the initial 6 months, and until they are ready to move into their own independent accommodation.
Where that is not possible, hosts are asked to inform their local council 2 months before a sponsorship arrangement ends.
Councils should continue to pay the ‘thank you’ payment until the host notifies them that the sponsorship arrangement has come to an end.