19th September 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 9:00 -17:00 and Friday from 9:00 - 16:30. Our 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.
Homes For Ukraine team support
In Lincolnshire, the Homes For Ukraine scheme is co-ordinated by Lincolnshire County Council's Migration Team. If you require any help from the team, please email us on: homesforukraine@lincolnshire.gov.uk.
This email address is monitored from Monday to Thursday, 9:00 - 17:00 and Friday 9:00 - 16:30. When you email please include as much detail as possible about the situation you are getting in touch about, so that we can triage and respond appropriately. We will reply to all emails within two working days, and we prioritise responding quickly to any hosts and guests needing immediate help.
If your enquiry does require a call from the Homes for Ukraine team, please be aware that our call to you may appear as an 'unknown number'.
Guests
Guest contribution to utility bills
As we start to approach winter, we just wanted to give a quick reminder that hosts are legitimately allowed to ask guests to make a reasonable contribution to household utility bills. This is made clear in the Homes For Ukraine guidance, which has always stated that guests may be asked to pay a reasonable and proportionate contribution towards household utility bills.
The monthly thank you payments are not designed to cover the additional costs of utility bills. We know that this is what some hosts use the thank you payments for, but we also recognise that every hosting situation is different and not all hosts are in a position to do this. The link to the UK Government guidance on utility bill contributions is here.
Pension contributions
We have had a few queries come in about Ukrainians being automatically enrolled in workplace pensions, including questions about how to opt out of these schemes.
Further guidance on workplace pensions is available on the UK Government website.
Hosts
'Thank you' payments in Boston and South Holland
In accordance with national guidance, you may be receiving a monthly thank you payment for hosting a Homes For Ukraine guest.
We are making some changes to how thank you payments are sent.
Until now, payments have been sent out by District Councils. We have decided that Lincolnshire County Council will take over making these payments. This will simplify the application process, help us resolve queries faster and provide a single organisation that hosts need to talk to.
We are working our way across the county with this change, switching hosts from being paid by their District Council to being paid by Lincolnshire County Council.
The next group of hosts we will switch across to LCC are hosts in Boston Borough Council and South Holland District Council.
If you are a host in Boston or South Holland, you will shortly receive an email from homesforukraine@lincolnshire.gov.uk with further information about the changes. This email will link to an online form for you to complete with some details about you as a host, including which bank account you would like your payments made into. We would appreciate it if Boston and South Holland hosts could look out for this email - we want to ensure that hosts are set up on our financial systems promptly so that nobody misses out on any payments.
This change does not affect how much you are eligible to receive, it is just a behind-the-scenes administrative change of where the payments come from.
We would also like to note that hosts are able to apply for thank you payments at any point during their hosting and - subject to meeting the eligibility criteria for being a host - may be eligible for back-dated payments.
Payment dates
Lincolnshire County Council will send your thank you payment on the last Thursday of the month - on this day you will receive an email with your remittance attached. However, when the money arrives in your account will depend on your bank's clearing period. This is likely to be within 2-3 working days of us sending the payment, but will vary from bank to bank.
Other rules around thank you payments
There are various rules we need to comply with for thank you payments. For example, what happens if your guest leaves your accommodation part-way through the month? If you would like to find out more about this, please head to our Homes For Ukraine Lincolnshire website, which explains the rules in more detail.
Guests travelling abroad
If guests are away from their hosts for more than 28 days, the UK Government instructs us to pause thank you payments until the guest returns.
We are seeing high levels of guest travel from and back to the UK. Please can we remind hosts and guests to let us know when a guest has left your accommodation - even if the guest is intending to return within less than 28 days - so that we can update our records. The situation in Ukraine remains difficult and guest travel plans are understandably fluid, so even if a guest is not intending to be away for long, plans can change. It is helpful for us to be informed when guests come and go so that we can administer thank you payments correctly.
We do not receive this information from Border Force so we are, to an extent, reliant on hosts and guests informing us when they are leaving/returning to the UK. Thank you for your understanding with this.
Visas and Immigration
eVisas
All Homes For Ukraine guests can now create a UK Visas and Immigration account to access their eVisa.
eVisas are replacing Biometric Residence Permits (BRPs) and will be the new way of demonstrating your current immigration status and your current rights in the UK - the right to work, to rent a property, to access public funds and so on.
You can find out more about eVisas here: UK Government website.
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).
Another County Council, Lancashire has also created a Ukrainian-language guide to the process which you might find beneficial to watch.
Most Homes For Ukraine guests will have a BRP with an expiry date of 31 December 2024. The UK Government advice is to create a UKVI account and access your eVisa before your BRP card expires.
Please note:
- the BRP expiry date of 31 December 2024 is the date that the BRP expires, it is not when your Homes For Ukraine visa expires.
- you are advised to keep hold of your old BRP card, even after you have accessed your eVisa. This BRP card may be needed to travel internationally until it expires. Even after it expires, it may be needed to make future applications to stay in the UK.
- all Homes For Ukraine guests need to create a UKVI account to access their eVisa. This includes children - each child needs a UKVI account. Parents can use their own email address to create a UKVI account for their child.
- creating a UKVI account and accessing your eVisa does not extend the amount of time you are allowed to stay in the UK. The eVisa is simply a different way of demonstrating your current right to be in the UK.
- there will be an entirely separate process for Homes For Ukraine guests to apply to extend the length of time they can stay in the UK. This extension scheme is still being worked on by the UK Government and will be called the Ukraine Permission Extension scheme.
Immigration Advice
If you have any questions about your visa or need immigration advice, you can speak with a qualified adviser for the Office of the Immigration Services Commissioner (OISC).
The UK Government has a helpful page about how to Find An Immigration Advisor and that will lead you to the Adviser Finder which can be used to find local OISC-qualified advisors.
You can search for someone to help you with advice, complaints and applications to stay in the UK. There are both free and paid-for services, with advisor levels ranging from 1 to 3.
Citizens Advice is a charity that offers free support and advice to residents. 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 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. Citizens Advice are also OISC-qualified to provide immigration advice.
How to find out when your HFU visa expires
We know that many guests are concerned about when their current Homes For Ukraine visas expire, and the date that the visas run out is not always obvious. There is the additional confusion that Biometric Residence Permits expire on 31 December 2024, but this is not the date that the visa expires on.
Guests may have been told the date their Homes For Ukraine visa expires in the correspondence they received from the UK Government when the visa was granted. Alternatively, guests may have had their visa expiry date confirmed when they entered the UK. Or guests may simply never have been told the date their visa expires.
If you are a guest who is unsure of when your Homes For Ukraine visa expires, the easiest way that we have found to confirm the dates is to use the Government share code website that proves your right to work in the UK (you will need your BRP to do this):
Prove your right to work to an employer: Get a share code online - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Click on the green 'Start now' button and select the 'I have a biometric residence card or permit'. Say 'Yes' that you do have a biometric residence permit. Then input your BRP number and your date of birth.
You will then be shown a screen showing a date range when you are allowed to work in the UK. This date range corresponds to your Homes For Ukraine visa date range - so the last date shown is the date your Homes For Ukraine visa expires.
Change in Arrangements
Updating other organisations
We would like to remind guests and hosts that it is important to let various different organisations know if you have a change of circumstances.
If your guests leave for any reason, please inform us ASAP at homesforukraine@lincolnshire.gov.uk so we can correctly administer your case.
Another good example is that if a guest returns to Ukraine temporarily it is important for the guests to also let the Job Centre know so that they can manage the Universal Credit claim correctly in the guest's absence.
We have produced a checklist of organisations you might need to update, this checklist might be a useful starting point when guests move house or otherwise have a change of circumstance. You can find the checklist on our Homes For Ukraine Lincolnshire website (click on Checklist for moving accommodation).
Learning to Speak English
Online learning with TaylorITEX
TaylorITEX CIC will soon be starting an online English class, on Thursday evenings from 18.00 to 20.00. The exact start date is not yet confirmed.
The course will be held on Zoom. It will be free and will last 10 weeks.
For more details please contact TaylorITEX on 01205 360800 or julie@tayloritex.co.uk.
Community Lab in Sleaford
Starting on 21st September 2024, the Community Lab in Sleaford will be launching a new 12-week course that is designed to help Ukrainians with their English language skills. This course will also focus on employment skills such as job applications and interviews.
The course is free, but it does require a £60 deposit which is refundable at the end of the program provided that more than 80% of the classes have been attended.
More information is available on the Community Lab website.
STEP Ukraine
The STEP Ukraine programme is reopening for new students who can start in either September 2024 or November 2024.
STEP Ukraine is an intensive 12-week course that takes place online and teaches Ukrainians a mixture of English language and employment skills. Attendance is daily during Monday to Friday, and there are various time slots to fit in around things like picking children up from school.
More information is available on the STEP Ukraine website.
Events
University Open Days
University of Lincoln has an Undergraduate open day event on Saturday 21 September. To find out more or book a place please click here.
Lincoln College University Centre has an open day event on Saturday 21st September. To find out more or book a place please click here.
Bishop Grosseteste University has an open day event on Saturday 28th September. To find out more or book your place please click here.
Other Help
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.
Contact us
If you have any questions, please contact Lincolnshire County Council's Homes For Ukraine team on: homesforukraine@lincolnshire.gov.uk.