Guidance

Homes for Ukraine Scheme (2024-25) local authority tariff payment grant determination No. 31/7781 (England)

Published 30 April 2025

The Secretary of State for the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government (“Secretary of State”) in exercise of the powers conferred by section 31 of the Local Government Act 2003, makes the following determination:

Citation

1. This determination may be cited as the Homes for Ukraine tariff grant No. 31/7781.

Purpose of the grant

2. The purpose of the Homes for Ukraine tariff grant is to provide a per-person tariff to support local authorities to provide wrap-around support to individuals and families to rebuild their lives and fully integrate into communities. The tariff amount is £10,500 for guest arrivals on or prior to 31 December 2022, and £5,900 for arrivals on or after 1 January 2023. If a child applies to be sponsored by a parent or legal guardian under Homes for Ukraine but is subsequently granted Leave Outside the Rules, the local authority can claim the £5,900 arrivals tariff.

3. For Eligible Minors (an unaccompanied minor who is living in the UK under a ‘Homes for Ukraine’ sponsorship arrangement), the tariff available is:

• £10,500 for the first year of their Homes for Ukraine stay.
• £6,100 for the second and third year of their Homes for Ukraine stay (as relevant).
• £6,100 per annum for the duration of the Eligible Minor’s Ukraine Permission Extension permission. Local authorities can claim for the full annual tariff in years where eligibility is only met for part of the year.

Annex B contains details of local authorities’ responsibilities under the Homes for Ukraine Scheme, in line with the Guidance for councils.

Determination

4. The Secretary of State determines the authorities to which this grant is to be paid and the amount of grant to be paid as set out in Annex A of this determination.

5. The grant will be paid in full and in arrears, based on actual data on guest arrivals.

Payments will be made in full every quarter, using the existing quarterly payment process on DELTA.

6. In two tier areas, the grant will be paid to upper tier authorities.

Grant conditions

7. Pursuant to section 31(5) of the Local Government Act 2003, the Secretary of State determines that the grant will be paid subject to the following conditions in Annex C.

HMT Treasury consent

8. Before making this determination in relation to local authorities, the Secretary of State obtained the consent of HM Treasury.

9. Signed by authority of the Secretary of State.

Alastair Paton
Deputy Director, Homes for Ukraine Programme

UK Government Branding

10. The Grant Recipient shall at all times during and following the end of the Funding Period:

• comply with requirements of the Branding Manual in relation to the Funded Activities; and
• cease use of the Funded by UK Government logo on demand if directed to do so by the Authority.

11. Branding Manual means the HM Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland ‘Funded by UK Government branding manual’ first published by the Cabinet Office in November 2022 including any subsequent updates from time to time.

Annex A: Grant allocations

Homes for Ukraine local authority funding allocations October to December 2024 (England).

Annex B: Local authority responsibilities under the Homes for Ukraine Scheme

Local authorities have a number of important functions in supporting the Homes for Ukraine scheme. Local authorities will be expected to offer the categories of support listed below:

• Initial reception
• Data sharing
• Safeguarding checks
• Interim payment for guest
• Provision of education
• Service referrals
• Support into work and accessing benefits
• Homelessness assistance
• Move on support, including supporting access to the private rented sector
• Community integration
• Administering Thank You payments to eligible sponsors
• Facilitating rematching
• Supporting minors not travelling with or joining their parents in the UK

Local authorities have the discretion to spend the tariff on activities outside of this list, provided that it is used to support the objectives of the Homes for Ukraine scheme.

Annex C: Grant conditions

Pursuant to section 31(5) of the Local Government Act 2003, the Secretary of State determines that the grant will be paid subject to the following conditions:

1. A recipient authority must use the funding to carry out the activities set out in the Homes for Ukraine guidance, including completing all safeguarding and accommodation checks on sponsors and the property as soon as practicable, and recording these checks on the Foundry system. Where a potential safeguarding concern is identified, local authorities may be asked to carry out accommodation checks in advance of a visa application being approved. Local authorities are asked to carry out the accommodation checks quickly so visas can be issued. For more information, please see the attached guidance: Local council checks: Homes for Ukraine.

2. A recipient authority must use the funding to support children being sponsored by a parent or legal guardian in line with the guidance (Children being sponsored by a parent or legal guardian: Homes for Ukraine). If a child applies to be sponsored by a parent or legal guardian, but is subsequently issued Leave Outside the Rules – local authorities can claim the arrivals tariff once the child has arrived.

3. Where the tariff is provided for an Eligible Minor, a recipient authority must use the funding to support children in line with Homes for Ukraine: Guidance for councils (children and minors applying without parents or legal guardians). This includes confirming the two forms of parental consent have been provided, and conducting an accommodation check, Enhanced DBS checks and a sponsor suitability assessment - as soon as practicable. All checks must be recorded on the Foundry platform. Councils are also expected to take responsibility for post-arrival and ongoing visits.

4. If a minor has come to the UK under the Homes for Ukraine scheme and is subsequently left by their parent/legal guardian, local authorities must use the funding to support children in line with the guidance on Unaccompanied children identified already living in the UK. Payment of Eligible Minors funding is contingent on local authorities confirming on Foundry that that all checks have been completed and passed successfully, and on completing ongoing visits (at intervals of not more than 6 weeks for the first year, and at intervals of not more than 12 weeks in subsequent years) as set out in the above guidance. In respect of minors who arrived after 01 January 2023 and are subsequently ‘re-classified’ as Eligible Minors on Foundry, local authorities are able to claim additional funding to ‘top up’ the tariff from £5.9k to the higher rate of £10.5k.

5. A recipient authority must commission or provide services that ensure guests and sponsors are provided with a source of advice and support to assist with registering for mainstream benefits and services, including where necessary specialist public health services and community integration.

6. A recipient authority can use the funding to support guests into post-sponsorship accommodation. The form and range of this support will differ depending on the local area and could include, but is not limited to, measures such as: commissioning or providing advice services to guests and sponsors on affordability and how to find accommodation in the private rental sector, financial support with rental deposits/advances, acting as a guarantor, and encouraging landlords to rent properties to guests.

7. In two tier areas, upper tier authorities must agree a plan locally to:

• make payments to lower tier authorities in relation to all the services which they provide to guests under the Homes for Ukraine Scheme, during the full duration of the scheme, including for services such as homelessness assistance for which lower tier authorities are responsible; and
• make an immediate payment to lower tier authorities in relation to any upfront costs.

8. A recipient authority must provide regular data returns in relation to the Homes for Ukraine Scheme, as set out in guidance. For example:

• entering relevant data on Foundry regularly, and at a minimum, weekly. We require more robust data in all fields (including safeguarding and rematching updates), but particularly on guests leaving sponsorship (e.g., due to entering the private rental sector or leaving the UK), where LA data input has sometimes been irregular.
• that Section 151 officers must sign off quarterly returns to MHCLG which include: data to indicate how many people are moving into the area; the number of ‘thank you’ payments made to sponsoring households; the number of eligible minors resident within the LA, including the number of children who have been taken into the care of the local authority and the number of care leavers the authority is supporting; information on fraud and error that has been identified and recovered by the LA; and information on how the LA is spending the tariff (including a breakdown of spend across key categories) and confirmation that conditions have been met.
• the guidance sets out data sharing requirements in more detail. Timely and accurate data reporting from LAs is beneficial in helping to support understanding of how the scheme is operating locally, so that MHCLG can better support the scheme centrally. MHCLG will continue to keep the approach to data monitoring under review and will update guidance on data returns accordingly.

9. Where the amount of grant paid to an authority exceeds the authority’s actual pressures (based on the number of guests resident in their area), the difference shall be repaid to the Secretary of State. In addition, if MHCLG is made aware that an authority is in breach of the grant conditions above, it reserves the right to recover funding. The Homes for Ukraine arrival tariff is not ringfenced to a specific financial year.

10. Tariff funding can be claimed in full on a guest’s arrival, prior to all checks on the host being completed, but all relevant checks must be carried out promptly following a guest’s arrival.

Annex D: Homes for Ukraine guidance for councils

• Homes for Ukraine: guidance for councils
• Homes for Ukraine: guidance for councils (children and minors applying without parents or legal guardians)