Following a meeting with 30 Ukrainian host families, Cotswolds MP, Sir Geoffrey Clifton Brown, took the opportunity to follow up on some of the problems and queries they had raised with him, at the Public Accounts Committee meeting on 22nd September, which was looking at the Affordable Homes Programme since 2015.

Some of the issues being raised were:

• The prompt payments of the £350 for hosting a Ukrainian family.
• Whether Local Authorities were getting a handle on the number of people likely to be made homeless at the end of the 6 months.
• Whether there would be any help to repatriate Ukrainians.
• Would there be recognition of qualifications
• Would there be provision of a rental deposit for the private rental sector.

Following the questions raised, the Permanent Secretary to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, Jeremy Pocklington said:

“I am very conscious of the position of Ukrainians in high-cost areas of the country. It is part of the wider challenges that we are going to come on to today. In some cases, continuing the sponsorship arrangement may actually be the best outcome, given the housing pressures in the Cotswolds.”

Details of the full exchange between Sir Geoffrey and the Permanent Secretary can be found attached.

Commenting, Sir Geoffrey said:

“With over 100,000 people entering the UK on the various Ukrainian schemes, not only has the generosity of the British people been fantastic, but the Government has put in considerable effort in sorting out the various problems the scheme has revealed.”

Sir Geoffrey will be repeating his meeting with the Ukrainian host families at the beginning of December.