A former cabinet minister who has become one of the first MPs to take a Ukrainian family into his home under a new government scheme, has hit out at the red tape involved.
Newark MP and former housing minister Robert Jenrick has welcomed Maria, 40, and her two children, Christina, 11, and Boden, 15, into his family home in Nottinghamshire after picking them up from Stansted airport this week.
But he said the red tape involved in the Government's Homes for Ukraine scheme had "tested the patience" of both sponsors and the families fleeing war, reports the Mirror. Speaking on the Chopper's Politics podcast, he called on the Home Office to allow the paperwork to be completed in Ukrainian, and to stop forcing children to fill out separate forms to come to the UK.
Read more: Ukrainian teens settle in to new temporary home in Rowlands Gill
Mr Jenrick reportedly told the podcast: “I do think the process has been overly bureaucratic and I think the Home Office often falls into this trap. There were simple things that we could and should have done from the outset, like having the form in Ukrainian, for example. And I’m not sure whether you need to be doing checks on minors who are extremely unlikely to be a threat to this country.”
The Homes for Ukraine scheme has now issued over 25,000 visas where families in the UK can sponsor refugees from 55,600 applications. But critics have blasted the scheme for being slow while other countries around the world have not insisted on visas and so much bureaucracy.
Mr Jenrick said that he wanted to do something to help after seeing the horrors that have taken place in Ukraine since the Russian invasion on February 24. He said that his family and the Ukrainian mum and children have found the whole experience "very emotional".
"I think the family we are sponsoring were happy to be in a place of safety," he told the BBC. "Like most Ukrainians who come under the scheme they are leaving behind husbands, fathers, relatives and friends so there are mixed emotions. The process was relatively slow to begin with but well worth the wait from our perspective."
Mr Jenrick added that Maria and her family had been "absolutely lovely" and that the plan now was to find a school for the two children. He recommended for people in a position to offer homes to Ukrainians to take up the option but they needed to take it "seriously".
Victoria Prentis, the Environment Minister, is known to have also taken in a 25-year-old Ukrainian refugee, but under an existing visa for visitors to the UK.
