12th December 2024

Homes For Ukraine Lincolnshire e-newsletter

Welcome to the latest issue of our e-newsletter for Homes For Ukraine guests and hosts. This newsletter is sent out by Lincolnshire County Council's Migration Team. You can email the team on: homesforukraine@lincolnshire.gov.uk. Our business hours are Monday to Thursday 09:00 - 17:00 and Friday from 09:00 - 16:30. The email address is constantly monitored during these times.

You can also visit our Homes For Ukraine Lincolnshire website to find other information, and also to read this newsletter in Ukrainian or Russian. Use the 'Select Language' button at the top of the screen to switch language.

Відвідайте веб-сайт «Оселі для України в Лінкольнширі», щоб прочитати цей інформаційний бюлетень українською або російською мовами.
Для перемикання мови використовуйте кнопку «Вибрати мову» у верхній частині екрана.

Посетите сайт «Homes For Ukraine Lincolnshire», чтобы прочитать этот бюллетень на украинском или русском языке. Для переключения языка используйте кнопку «Выбрать язык» в верхней части экрана.

December newsletter - important information

There is a lot of important information in the newsletter this month. We would ask all hosts and guests to read it carefully, as well as the various online guidance we have provided links to.

If you have any questions you can always send them to homesforukraine@lincolnshire.gov.uk and we will do our best to help you, or signpost you to the correct organisation for your question.

December working hours for the team

The Lincolnshire County Council Homes For Ukraine team will be working normal hours around the Christmas holidays. Our working hours are Monday to Thursday, 09:00 - 17:00 and Friday 09:00 - 16:30 and we can be emailed on homesforukraine@lincolnshire.gov.uk.

However there are three days during the Christmas holidays when the team will not be working, these are three bank holidays. So we will be closed on Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year's Day.

December thank you payments

Thank you payment date

We are changing our thank you payment date this month, to avoid Christmas and Boxing Day.

We will be sending thank you payments to hosts on Monday 23 December. As usual these payments are sent by BACS and therefore should clear into your bank account within three working days. We'd appreciate it if you can wait for this clearing period to pass before contacting us to chase your payment.

Guest absences

We are expecting a lot of guests to leave their host's accommodation for a period over Christmas and New Year. We need to pause thank you payments when guests are absent for a period of more than 28 days.

Please could we remind hosts and guests to let us know of any guest absences over the holidays so that we can adjust thank you payments as necessary. We do not receive information on when guests leave the country from the Home Office so we are reliant on hosts or guests providing this information to us. Failure to notify us could result in us reclaiming payments made to you at a later date.

So if your guest is going abroad over the holidays please email us on homesforukraine@lincolnshire.gov.uk with the dates they are intending to be away. We also understand that travel plans can change at short notice, given the fluid and difficult situation in Ukraine.

Thank you payment updates

Thank you payments are changing

On 26 November 2024 the UK Government released a statement of an upcoming change to thank you payments. We understand that the Government also wrote to all Homes For Ukraine hosts on Friday 06 December 2024 regarding these changes (if you haven't received this email from the government let us know and we can forward it on to you).

Currently hosts are paid £350 a month for the first year. Then after a guest has been in the UK for 12 months the payments increase to £500 a month.

From April 2025 this will change as all payments will be at a flat rate of £350 a month, regardless of how long your guest has been in the UK. The £500 monthly rate is being discontinued.

As payments are made a month in arrears this means that April 2025 will be the final month we pay a mixture of £350 and £500 payments to hosts. From May 2025 all thank you payments will be £350 a month.

The payments will be £350 irrespective of whether the guests are on Homes For Ukraine visas or Ukraine Permission Extension visas (further updates regarding Ukraine Permission Extension visas are later on in the newsletter).

We have many hosts currently receiving £500 a month, which will reduce to £350 a month from May 2025. If you think that this reduction will impact on your ability to host beyond May 2025 please let us know by emailing homesforukraine@lincolnshire.gov.uk as soon as possible to help us understand how many guests may need to look for alternative accommodation. It is also important to talk to your guest about the options for their next steps with as much notice as possible.

Hosts should also note that they can switch their hosting arrangement to a formal lodging arrangement - there are details on the UK Government 'rent a room' website. If you do this please tell us so that we can stop your thank you payments (you cannot receive both rent and thank you payments).

Thank you payments for hosting close family members

On 01 October 2024 the UK Government announced a change to the policy around thank you payments. The policy change affects people who are hosting Homes For Ukraine guests who are close family members.

From now on we are no longer able to start making thank you payments to people hosting close family members on Homes For Ukraine visas.

However the UK Government says we should continue making thank you payments to hosts of close family member if they were already receiving the thank you payments before 01 October 2024.

There is more information in the UK Government guidance but if you have any questions please just email us at homesforukraine@lincolnshire.gov.uk and we can explain if you will be affected by this policy change.

Visas and Immigration

Homes For Ukraine permission to travel (PTT) letters

From around April 2022 to December 2023 the UK Government issued "permission to travel" letters (PTT letters) to Homes For Ukraine guests. These PTT letters meant that Ukrainians could come to the UK without going through the usual process of providing biometric information (fingerprints/facial photograph) before coming to the country.

These PTT letters were undated, meaning that Ukrainians could enter the UK at any time. The idea behind PTT letters was to simplify the process for Ukrainians to flee the war and seek sanctuary in the UK as quickly as possible.

The visa process was changed in December 2023 and no PTT letters have been issued since December 2023.

However there are still quite a few Ukrainians who have active PTT letters but who have not yet travelled to the UK.

The UK Government have announced that they are now adding a time limit to the use of PTT letters. All issued PTT letters remain valid until 12 February 2025. From 13 February 2025 PTT letters will no longer be accepted as proof of the right to come to the UK.

If you have any guests who are still planning to use their PTT letters, please can you pass this information along to them. Other advice about the use of PTT letters can be obtained by calling the UKVI Ukraine helpline on 0808 164 8810.

BRP expiry date and Homes For Ukraine visa expiry date

Many Homes For Ukraine guests will have a Biometric Residence Permit (BRP). A BRP is a pink plastic card and can be used to demonstrate that you have the right to enter the UK, the right to work in the UK, the right to rent in the UK and so on.

A BRP card is not your visa. A BRP card is simply a way of demonstrating what rights your current visa gives you. It is not the underlying visa itself.

All BRP cards are set to expire on 31 December 2024 because the UK Government are changing the way you prove what rights your current visa gives you. 31 December 2024 is the date that the BRP card runs out - it is not the date your Homes For Ukraine visa expires.

You can find out when your Homes For Ukraine visa expires by using the UK Government share code website - just put in your BRP details and your date of birth, and a then a photograph of you and a date range will appear - the date range is your current visa length.

From 01 January 2025 you will need to prove your current rights by using an eVisa. To access your eVisa you will need to create a UK Visas and Immigration account. There is further information about eVisas on the UK Government website.

The UK Government have also recommended that Ukrainians keep their expired BRPs even after applying for an eVisa because old BRPs may be needed in order to apply for the Ukraine Permission Extension scheme.

Help with eVisas

If you need help setting up your eVisa there are various organisations that are funded by the UK Government to help you.

If you don't have access to the internet or a smartphone or computer you can ask the We Are Group for help.

Vulnerable or elderly people can also ask for help. There is a list of different organisations helping in different parts of the country. The organisations helping people in Lincolnshire are:

Migrant Help - evisa@migranthelpuk.org
LEAN (Lincoln Embracing All Nations) - admin@lincoln-lean.org.uk

LEAN can offer appointments to help you with your eVisa, but these must be pre-booked via the email address above.

The UK Government has also released a YouTube video explaining the process (the video is in English but you can change the subtitles to different languages).

Ukraine Permission Extension scheme

Back in February 2024 the UK Government made an announcement about the Ukraine Permission Extension scheme, stating that it would provide a route for Ukrainians to extend their stay in the UK by 18 months.

The UK Government have now announced some more details about how the Ukraine Permission Extension scheme will work. Please take the time to read the government website in detail (it is available in Ukrainian and Russian as well).

We know that the announcement of the Ukraine Permission Extension (UPE) scheme has been long-awaited by the community, so we are hopeful that this detailed announcement provides many of the answers that hosts and guests are seeking.

We know there remain some details that are unclear and we are continuing to liaise with central government for further clarity. But we believe these are the key points to note, ahead of guidance being published in the new year:

Key points:

the UPE is a new visa (despite its name it is not an extension to your existing visa).
UPE visas can be applied for by anyone who currently holds one of the three 'Ukraine Scheme'. visas (Homes For Ukraine visa, Ukraine Family Scheme visa, Ukraine Extension Scheme visa).
UPE visas are not granted automatically to holders of these three visa types - all guests will have to make an application for a UPE visa.
it is free to apply for a UPE visa.
the guest has to be in the UK when the UPE visa application is made.
you can only apply for a UPE visa within 28 days of your existing HFU visa expiring (you can find out when your current HFU visa expires by looking on the share code site or by looking at your eVisa).
it is important that applications for UPE visas are made before HFU visas expire.
all UPE applicants need to have a UKVI account and eVisa set up before they apply for UPE. This includes children.
UPE visas will usually be issued within 8 weeks of applying. It is therefore possible that there will be a period between a guest's HFU visa expiring and their UPE visa starting. So guests may find themselves being "between visas" for a period of several weeks. As long as a UPE application has been made before the HFU visa has expired then guests will still have the right to work, rent and claim public funds (e.g. universal credit) during the period when they are between visas. Hosts can also still be paid thank you payments during this interim period.
as part of the UPE application process there will be a requirement for guests to demonstrate how long they have been living in the UK. UPE visas will not be refused because Ukrainian guests have left the UK for short holidays.
the government are presuming they will issue UPE visas in the majority of cases - they will not be searching for reasons to refuse them.
when a UPE visa is granted it will give the Ukrainian guest an additional 18 months to be in the UK. The rights to work, rent and access public funds will be the same on a UPE visa as they were on a HFU visa.
hosts will need to reapply for thank you payment once their guests have moved to UPE visas.
thank you payments will continue to hosts while guests are on UPE. This will be at a flat rate of £350 for the duration of the 18 month UPE visa (as mentioned earlier in the newsletter, all thank you payments will be £350 a month from May 2025 onwards as the £500 payment is being discontinued).
however if you are receiving thank you payments for hosting family members whilst they are on HFU visas, these payments will stop once your family members move to UPE visas. No thank you payments will be made for hosting family members on UPE visas.
it will not be possible to claim thank you payments for a UPE guest if that guest previously held a Ukraine Family Scheme or Ukraine Extension Scheme visa.
we do not yet know if the council tax discount will continue for guests with UPE visas. We await further updates from government on this.
hosts may wish to discuss switching their hosting arrangement to a formal lodging arrangement with their guest - there are details on how to do this on the UK Government 'rent a room' website - if you are a host who does this you need to tell us so that we can cease your thank you payments (you cannot charge rent and receive thank you payments).

Local Authorities will continue to receive further guidance from central government over the next two months and we will circulate any further details in future newsletters.

It is a lot of information to absorb, and UPE visas are inextricably linked with the move to eVisas as well. We would urge all hosts and guests to thoroughly read all the UK Government guidance we have linked to throughout the newsletter.

If you have any questions you can send them to us at homesforukraine@lincolnshire.gov.uk and we will do our best to help or signpost to someone else who can help.

Please remember that the government also provide a list of OISC-qualified immigration advisors.

HFU visas expiring soon

It is a guest's responsibility to know when their visa will expire, and therefore when they need to apply for a Ukraine Permission Extension scheme visa.

Local Authorities do not receive data on when Homes For Ukraine visas expire. We will estimate which guests in Lincolnshire we think have visas expiring soonest and we will write to those guests in the new year to ask for the definite end date of those visas - this will probably require guests to send us a share code. We'd like to thank guests in advance for their support with this process.

Health

Registering with a GP

The NHS have published some new information sheets on registering with a GP - this might be when you first arrive in the UK or when you move to another area within the UK. There is a Ukrainian version of this information sheet that some guests and hosts might find useful.

Mental Health help

There are lots of organisations in Lincolnshire that can help with mental health. Please have a look at the Health section of our Homes For Ukraine Lincolnshire website - there are lots of useful links under the Mental Health dropdown box.

Events

Holiday Activities and Food Programme

The Holiday Activities and Food Programme (HAF) is a Government funded programme that provides free holiday clubs for reception to year 11 pupils in receipt of benefits-related free school meals in Lincolnshire over the summer, Christmas and Easter holidays.

Winter HAF bookings are open now, so please look at the website if you would like to book onto any of these activities. You will need an eVoucher provided by your school in order to book an activity.

Other help

Warm Packs

Lincolnshire Community Foundation are circulating a Handy Money Saving Guide - there are lots of useful tips inside to help people over the winter.

Some organisations are also distributing free warm packs - these might include hats and gloves, hot water bottles, thermos flasks and blankets. If you would like to find out more about warm packs please ask at your nearest large warm space (see the list in the top right corner of page 9).

Ukrainian Community Groups in Lincolnshire

If you are looking to join a Ukrainian community group, visit the Ukraine support groups directory on our Homes For Ukraine Lincolnshire website.

Citizens Advice

Citizens Advice is a charity that offers free support and advice. They can help with a range of issues including immigration and visa advice, claiming universal credit and other benefits. Citizens Advice can provide home visits in rural areas.

In Lincolnshire there is a dedicated helpline number and email address for Homes For Ukraine guests to use. If you would like to ask for help you can call 0344 847 6128 or email ukraine@citizensadvicesouthlincs.org.uk. Citizens Advice also have OISC level 1 qualified staff.

Contact us

If you have any questions, please contact Lincolnshire County Council's Homes For Ukraine team on: homesforukraine@lincolnshire.gov.uk.