When a guest moves between UK nations: Homes for Ukraine
What councils need to do when a guest moves between devolved administrations.
Guests can move between the nations of the United Kingdom and local councils
Where a guest wants to move in with a new host in another nation of the UK, they should tell their current council who will register a need for a rematch and notify the new receiving council. The receiving council can then decide whether to prioritise the case for help with finding a rematch, or whether a guest would need to find their own rematch.
It is the responsibility of the receiving council or devolved administration to carry out the relevant Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) and accommodation checks, and if returned successfully, they can then make the thank you payment available, in line with wider guidance on rematching.
If a move happens without the awareness of the receiving council or devolved government, and without checks having taken place, then this is at the guest’s own risk.
It is the responsibility of the council or devolved administration to recognise retrospectively this as a formal rematch by undertaking the necessary checks as soon as possible, unless issues were identified by the checks, or hosts or guests are unwilling to allow the checks to take place or no longer want to be part of formal sponsorship. Find out more about what checks to make when a guest has already moved in.
Formalising these rematches is necessary so the host can receive their thank you payment, and also ensure the transfer of the relevant tariff funding.
It remains the responsibility of all councils and devolved administrations to ensure that guests and hosts in their areas are following guidelines on checks and rematching wherever possible, and not seeking informal rematches in other areas.
Where the checks are unsuccessful, and the guest is already in situ, the guest should be informed and advised to move out, and in serious cases provided with temporary accommodation, until a new match is found. If they chose to stay with the host, they should be informed that this is at their own risk and the host will not qualify for the thank you payment. Both parties should be made aware of this.
Movement of a guest between England, Wales, and Northern Ireland
Step-by-step instructions on this process are set out in the Foundry User Guide.
Movement of a guest from Scotland to England, Wales, or Northern Ireland
Where a guest living in Scotland moves to another part of the UK, the Scottish Government or host council should raise the case via JIRA, confirming they have notified the receiving council or Devolved Government to the case. The JIRA response team will then re-assign the record to the relevant council in England or Northern Ireland, however it is not currently possible to reassign records to Wales as they use a separate records management system to Foundry for their administration of the Homes for Ukraine scheme.
If a guest has arrived in a receiving council or devolved administration without prior notice from the Scottish Government, the receiving council should notify the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) via JIRA requesting the digital record to be re-assigned to their area via Foundry. As above, it is not yet possible for us to assign records to Wales, though a ticket should still be raised in these cases as we work to implement a process which will allow such a transfer to be carried out.
Movement of a guest from England, Wales, or Northern Ireland to Scotland
The host local authority should notify the Scottish Government of a guest’s intent to move to Scotland by contacting ceu@gov.scot. The Scottish Government will liaise with the receiving council in Scotland to support a guest’s transition. The receiving council should raise a JIRA ticket to request the transfer of the digital record from the host council, however it is not currently possible to assign to Scotland any records of those not sponsored by the Scottish Government or a Scotland-based sponsor as Scotland uses a separate records management system to Foundry for their administration of the Homes for Ukraine scheme.
MHCLG will conduct a funding reconciliation exercise at the end of the 2022-23 financial year to ensure that funding is allocated accurately and fairly between local authorities. Read the guidance about reconciliation.