16th November 2023

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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 the Lincolnshire County Council Homes For Ukraine team. You can email the team on homesforukraine@lincolnshire.gov.uk

Visit the 'Connect to Support' website to read this newsletter in Ukrainian or Russian (using Google Translate).

Відвідайте веб-сайт "Зверніться до служби підтримки", щоб прочитати цей інформаційний бюлетень українською або російською мовами (за допомогою Google Translate).

Посетите сайт "Связь с поддержкой", чтобы прочитать этот бюллетень на украинском или русском языках (с помощью Google Translate).

Health

Understanding the NHS (National Health Service)

We have some infographics explaining how the NHS works - these are on the Connect To Support "Health and Emergency Services" tile - these can be read in English, Ukrainian or Russian.

Mental health support

Lincolnshire Partnership Foundation Trust are the mental health organisation for Lincolnshire. They run a service called Lincolnshire Talking Therapies - this is a service that people can self-refer to, you can simply call to speak to someone who will assess what support you might need with your mental health.

Leaflets explaining this service are available on the Connect To Support "Health and Emergency Services" tile - if you click on the heading "Mental health support" you will find links to leaflets in English, Ukrainian and Russian.

Dentists

We appreciate that there is a difficulty for many people across the country who are trying to find dentists. Our best advice continues to be to use the NHS Find a dentist website.

Children

Leaving children alone at home

The UK takes children’s rights seriously and is always trying to improve the situation of all children. For this reason the UK has passed a number of laws that help protect children. Children have a right to have their views listened to and considered. In some circumstances in the UK, children aged 14 and older have a right to make certain decisions for themselves, such as medical decisions.

As a parent you are legally responsible for the protection, care and well-being of your children. It is a parent’s responsibility to make sure their children attend school. If you do not, there can be legal action such as: a Parenting Order, an Education Supervision Order, a School Attendance Order or a fine. Going to school is very important for the welfare of a child. Helping out with tasks at home must not stop a child from going to school. It is an offence to leave children alone if this will put them at risk. Babies, toddlers and very young children should never be left alone.

There is further information about leaving children alone on the NSPCC website.

Immigration status for new-born babies

For any Ukrainian babies born in the UK where the parents have Homes For Ukraine visas, it is important that the baby's immigration status is 'regularised' within three months of the baby being born.

This process is important because it ensures the baby has the correct immigration status as well as ensuring access to services and benefits, including healthcare. More information on the 'regularising' process is available here on the government website.

Ethnic Minority and Traveller Education Team (EMTET)

Lincolnshire County Council's EMTET team helps children from other countries to settle into Lincolnshire's schools. The team also promotes different cultures and challenges racism and discrimination. The EMTET team can support individual children with their academic progress, for example by providing bilingual teaching materials.

There is more information on the EMTET website and you can contact the team by emailing emtet@lincolnshire.gov.uk.

Holiday Activities and Food Programme (HAF)

The Holiday Activities and Food Programme is a government-funded programme that provides Reception to Year 11 children, who receive benefits-related free school meals, access to free healthy meals and activities during the school holidays.

Bookings for the Christmas school holidays are now open - the programme will run from Thursday 21st December to Tuesday 2nd January (excluding weekends and bank holidays).

Further details, including how to make a booking, are available on the HAF website.

Hosts

Final thank you payments when guests leave

When a hosting arrangement comes to an end - and guests move on to accommodation elsewhere - we must also bring the host thank you payments to an end.

Hosts are paid a monthly thank you payment in arrears - this is a payment of £350 a month, going up to £500 a month once the guests have been in the UK for a year.

This leads to the question of what happens with payments when guests leave partway through a month. Of course, very few guests leave their hosts exactly on the same day of the month they arrived - so in the majority of cases guests have stayed with their host for a full number of months and then part of another month.

The government guidance is that we should look at the final part-month to determine if an extra monthly payment should be made. If this final part-month is 16 days or more then the hosts are eligible for another full thank you payment; if it is 15 or fewer days then the hosts are not eligible for another full thank you payment. We do not pay pro-rata payments for individual extra days.

For example, if guests arrive with a host on 1st January 2023 and then leave on 20th August the guests have been there for 7 months and 19 days - so this host would receive 8 thank you payments in total.

If guests arrive with a host on 1st January 2023 and then leave on 10th August the guests have been there for 7 months and 9 days - so this host would receive 7 thank you payments in total.

Please contact homesforukraine@lincolnshire.gov.uk if you have any further questions about thank you payments.

Sponsoring visas for additional guests before your existing guests have left

We have recently had a few situations with sponsors who have submitted an application for a second group of guests, before their first group of guests have left.

A typical scenario might be that the first group of guests are intending to move out (perhaps into rented accommodation in Lincolnshire, or to return to Ukraine) and a sponsor has submitted a new visa application for a second group of guests on the assumption that visa applications can take a while and that the first group of guests will have vacated the property before the second group have their visas approved.

This places Lincolnshire County Council in a difficult situation - when we receive a visa application we are asked to judge whether you can offer suitable accommodation at the time the visa application is made. If you still have your first guests living with you - even if there is the intention that they are going to move out - we may need to fail the suitable accommodation check for your visa application if there is not enough room for the two groups of guests to live with you simultaneously.

The reason for this is that sometimes guest plans change - renting plans can fall through, plans to return to Ukraine may have to be cancelled at short notice - and if a second group of guests have visas approved to come to the UK there is the potential they may choose to come and have no accommodation available, and therefore become a homelessness case.

We do try to be as flexible as we can but it would be helpful if sponsors could wait until a first group of guests have actually moved out - rather than have plans to move out - before applying to sponsor a second group.

It may also help to know that there is no standard turnaround time for the Home Office to process visas. The time taken to make a visa decision can vary from a few days to a few weeks - the variations in visa decision times are down to the length of time it takes the Home Office to complete their national and international checks, and there can also be delays if the application form is not completed correctly - so there isn't an advantage in 'applying early' to sponsor a second group of guests.

Hosts are not allowed to charge rent from their guests

When a host is receiving a monthly thankyou payment for hosting one or more Homes For Ukraine guests, the host is not allowed to charge rent to their guests.

Hosts are allowed to ask their guests for a reasonable and proportionate contribution to utility bills costs, but are not allowed to charge rent. Hosts not being allowed to charge rent is made clear in the government guidance for hosts and the government guidance for guests.

If you have any questions or concerns about this please contact either the Wellbeing Lincs team at ukraine.wellbeing@e-lindsey.gov.uk or the LCC HFU team at homesforukraine@lincolnshire.gov.uk.

Change of circumstances

We would just like to remind guests and hosts that it is important to let various different organisations know if you have a change of circumstances.

A good example is that if a guest returns to Ukraine temporarily it is important to let the Job Centre know so that they can manage the Universal Credit claim correctly in the guest's absence.

It is also important for hosts to let the Homes For Ukraine team know if a guest has left your accommodation for 28 days or more, as this could affect the 'thank you' payment.

Housing

Savings

We would encourage all guests, even those who have newly arrived, to consider taking advantage of being in a hosting arrangement in order to start saving up for deposits or rents for a potential move into independent accommodation in the future.

Whilst you are living with a host you may be making a contribution towards energy bills but you will not be paying rent, and this is a good opportunity to save up towards a deposit or towards the costs of furniture you might need when living on your own.

Other suggestions and advice for guests thinking about moving into independent accommodation can be found on our Connect To Support Housing website.

Council Tax for HFU guests in their own home

Council Tax is a tax which goes to local councils to pay for local services such as schools, police and social care. Homes For Ukraine guests who move into privately rented property or a home of their own will become liable for paying Council Tax.

Council Tax requirements can vary depending on who is living in the household and their circumstances, including their immigration status. If all people living in a rented property have Homes For Ukraine visas then the group may be eligible for a 50% discount on their Council Tax. Council Tax is collected by district councils - if you have any questions about your Council Tax you should contact your local district council in the first instance.

The national guidance about Council Tax is published here within the HFU guidance for guests.

Visas and BRPs

BRP end dates

Homes For Ukraine visas currently give guests the right to remain in the UK for three years - however many guests will see that their Biometric Residence Permits have an end date listed on them of December 2024.

This is because in January 2025 the Home Office are removing the need for physical BRP cards and moving instead to an online system for people to prove their immigration status.

We appreciate there is the potential for some confusion here so we just want to be clear that the December 2024 date is the date the card expires not the date when a guest's leave to remain in the UK expires.

All guests on the Homes For Ukraine scheme are eligible for leave to remain for three years from the date of their arrival into the UK.

Some further information about the BRP change is available on the UK government website.

Visa extensions beyond three years

We know that many hosts and guests are asking if Homes For Ukraine visas can be extended to more than three years, and we know that uncertainty around this is affecting all sorts of longer-term decisions guests and hosts are trying to make, ranging from housing to education.

We cannot confirm if Homes For Ukraine guests will be allowed to extend their visas to remain in the UK for more than three years. We know that the UK government are actively working on this, and have been for some time, but there is currently no route open to extending visas to more than three years.

We are expecting a further update from the UK government before Christmas, and of course we will share any news with all guests and hosts as soon as possible.

General visa advice

We maintain a webpage about Visas, Sponsoring and Hosting and would encourage hosts and guests to read through this when considering decisions about any future visa applications, for example if guests decide to become sponsors to other guests.

This page is intended to provide general advice but the experts are UK Visas and Immigration (part of the Home Office) who are the people who actually make the decisions on visa applications. UKVI are the experts and we would encourage hosts and guest to contact them with any detailed questions about the Homes For Ukraine visa process or with questions about other visa routes that may be open to Ukrainians hoping to come to the UK.

Contact details for UKVI are provided in the Visa advice section of the webpage.

Events

Ukraine Employment and Support Event, 6th December

On Wednesday 6th December from 4.30pm to 7pm we are holding a Ukraine Employment and Support event at Lincoln College.

This is a drop-in event for any Homes For Ukraine hosts or guests to attend - you can come along to ask questions or seek advice and support face-to-face. There will be attendance from various different organisations - the idea is that whatever your question there will be someone in the room who can help.

There will also be a range of local employers in attendance who will share the information on their current job vacancies. The Department for Work and Pensions/Job Centre will also be available to provide advice on benefit entitlement and training opportunities.

We've held events like this before and they've always been successful so do please come and join us if there is anything we can help with.

The event is happening on Wednesday 6th December from 4.30pm to 7pm at Deans Sports and Leisure Building, Lincoln College, Monks Road, Lincoln, LN2 5HQ.

GoGro cookery sessions

GoGro CIC are running a series of Ukrainian Cookery And Friendship classes around Lincolnshire. These fun sessions are an opportunity to learn and share about different types of cookery, both Ukrainian and British.

The sessions are free to attend and are being run at various different locations around Lincolnshire. Please look at the GoGro website to find out details of times and locations. It would be appreciated if you could notify the location where the class is happening if you are planning to attend.

Good Mood Café in Holbeach

Boxes Of Hope run a Good Mood Cafe, this is a session during the morning and evening that any Ukrainians are welcome to come along to just to meet people and have a chat.

The Good Mood Cafe is at Boxes Of Hope's Community Hub at 23 High Street, Holbeach. The Café is open every Thursday from 10am-12pm and from 6pm to 8pm.

More details are available on the poster in English or Ukrainian.

Cost of Living Support

Lincolnshire Community Foundation grants

LCF have launched a series of new funds to support households who are struggling with the costs of living. These new "Household Support Funds" offer up to £300 to help with food or energy bills. The funds are not aimed specifically at Homes For Ukraine guests or hosts - and they are not available to people who are in receipt of universal credit or other benefits - however there may be guests and hosts who might wish to apply to them.

Please note there are three different funds covering different district council areas, and not all of Lincolnshire is covered. The three funds are:

Boston, East Lindsey and South Holland Household Support Fund

West Lindsey Household Support Fund

South Kesteven Household Support Fund

Wellbeing Lincs support for Ukrainians in Lincolnshire

'Wellbeing Lincs' offers emotional and practical support - for example, help with advice on accessing health, education, benefits and housing - to all hosts and guests in Lincolnshire.

If you need to have a potentially difficult conversation with your host / guest, the 'Wellbeing Lincs' team may be able help you navigate this. They are trained in providing mediation and can support you in talking things through openly and honestly to reach a positive solution.

For help, email ukraine.wellbeing@e-lindsey.gov.uk with your name, address, contact information and a brief description of what you need.

The team will aim to be in touch within two working days. They can also be contacted by phone on 01507 613044 from 9am to 5pm Monday to Thursday or 10am to 4.30pm on Fridays.

Citizens Advice

Citizens Advice is a charity that offers free support and advice to residents. They can help with a range of issues including claiming universal credit and other benefits. Citizens Advice can provide home visits in rural areas and can attend community groups in Lincolnshire with translation support.

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.

Important Links / Важливі посилання / Важные ссылки

Contact us

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