Ministers are being urged to remove “needless bureaucracy” from refugee schemes for Ukrainians as it emerged those who have fled war are now facing destitution in Britain.
Calls are mounting for the government to allow refugees to apply to the Homes for Ukraine scheme from within the UK, and to provide local authorities with funding for those arriving under the family scheme, for which there is currently no support.
It has emerged that many of those who have arrived in recent weeks, both under the Home Office’s family scheme and those without visas – who have ususally travelled through Ireland to reach the UK – are struggling to access housing, as well as having difficulties opening bank accounts, claiming benefits and getting their children into schools.
Some have inadvertently ended up in the UK asylum system, meaning they are denied the right to work and given little or no support money. Others had intended to stay with family but found that their relatives do not have space to house them, and had to register as homeless.
Despite the fact that 200,000 people in Britain have offered to host refugees under the Homes for Ukraine scheme – which enables Ukrainians to be housed by UK sponsors – a rule preventing people from applying to it once they are in Britain means they cannot benefit from these offers. Councils and charities are instead “scrambling” to house and support them.
Only 5,200 people have so far been granted visas under the Homes for Ukraine scheme out of 32,000 who have applied, of which 500 have actually reached the UK, according to figures from last Friday.
It comes as The Independent revealed that the Home Office has shut down parts of its ordinary immigration and visa system – reallocating resources to deal with its bureaucratic Ukraine scheme.
Travellers report that priority and super-priority visas are not currently available and ministers have apologised for “any inconvenience caused”. Standard visas from elsewhere are also subject to delays.
The Independent’s Refugees Welcome campaign is calling for the government to go further and faster to help Ukrainians fleeing the war, with more than 183,000 people signing our petition asking ministers to provide more supplies of food, clothing and shelter for Ukrainian refugees and to do more to make the UK a safe haven for them.
Shadow levelling up secretary Lisa Nandy accused ministers of “wasting the amazing generosity” of people who have offered to open their homes to refugees, and called the inability to move between the schemes “needlessly bureaucratic”.
“If people are already here and need a home, they should be eligible to match up with someone who has offered their home under the sponsorship scheme, especially given how many offers of sponsorship are currently going to waste,” she told The Independent.
“Councils, charities and ordinary people have stepped up in Ukraine’s hour of need. They urgently need more information and support.”
Tim Naor Hilton, chief executive of Refugee Action, said the fact that Ukrainians arriving under the family visa scheme were falling into homelessness and destitution “completely undermines the protection this government says it is offering to those fleeing Russian bombs”.
He said the “simple solution” was to urgently allow Ukrainians already in the UK to apply for the Homes for Ukraine scheme, which would “immediately open up funding to local authorities to support Ukrainian refugees that need it”.
Leyla Williams, deputy director of West London Welcome, said the small charity had been approached by around 10 Ukrainian families in the last fortnight who were struggling to access housing or other basic support.
She described the case of a family who had arrived on the family visa scheme but whose relative was a disabled woman with very little money, meaning they weren’t able to live with her. The charity has placed them with a host informally.
“We’ve got a number of families in that situation appealing to us for help. Not all families are going to have the means to support their relatives. Communities are scrambling to help these people. This work isn’t formally funded by anyone. The government isn’t helping,” she said.
“We are happy as a charity to support people, but it shouldn’t be the role of a small charity to support traumatised and bewildered Ukrainians families and their hosts. They are being supported in a totally different way to those coming through the Homes for Ukraine scheme.”
Ms Williams said the “only way” to prevent Ukrainians from becoming homeless and falling into “real destitution” was to allow them to apply to the sponsorship scheme from within the UK.
“They need that state support to ensure that people can meet their essential needs as soon as they get here. Everybody is escaping the same war,” she added.
Figures released by the Local Government Association (LGA) this week revealed that at least 144 newly arrived Ukrainian households have presented as homeless in the UK since the start of the war.
Oleksandr Polishchuk, a volunteer at Support Ukraine, a charity in London, said it was helping dozens of refugees who were struggling to access basic services on arrival to Britain.
“In many cases they don’t have cash, they don’t speak English. It’s complicated. Sometimes they need housing, they need clothing. In most cases they’ve come with a bag, but not much,” he said.
“Some need medication and they don’t know where to get it from. People are struggling to get their kids into schools. They don’t know how to apply for benefits. The language barrier is huge.
“The government isn’t offering support with this. It introduced a policy and left it to local authorities to implement it.”
He called on the government to enable people already in the UK to switch to the sponsorship scheme: “There are tons of people who will take them. This is a nation which gave the Kindertransport. We’re in that situation. There are so many people who want to help.
“Ukrainians don’t want to be a burden. They didn’t come here to be on benefits. They want to work, they want to earn their keep. A lot of people would apply to the sponsorship scheme if they could.”
Local authorities are given £10,500 in central government funding for each refugee under the Homes for Ukraine scheme, but receive no money for those arriving under the family scheme, which allows Ukrainian refugees to join UK-based relatives.
A spokesperson for the LGA said: “We are calling for councils to receive funding to support new arrivals coming under the family visa scheme, who will still need access to local services, so they can support them when they are here in both the short and long term,” the spokesperson said.
A government spokesperson said: “Everyone coming to the UK under the Homes for Ukraine and Ukraine family scheme will have access to healthcare, education, benefits and job support on the same footing as UK nationals.
“These schemes are designed to ensure people who are coming to the UK fleeing the Russian invasion are provided with accommodation by their family or sponsor, and are only open to those applying from outside of the UK.”
The Independent has a proud history of campaigning for the rights of the most vulnerable, and we first ran our Refugees Welcome campaign during the war in Syria in 2015. Now, as we renew our campaign and launch this petition in the wake of the unfolding Ukrainian crisis, we are calling on the government to go further and faster to ensure help is delivered. To find out more about our Refugees Welcome campaign, click here. To sign the petition click here. If you would like to donate then please click here for our GoFundMe page.
