Support for Ukraine

Good evening, everyone. Thank you very much for joining us tonight. I think it's fair to say when I joined the British Army as a young subaltern, gosh, thirty odd years ago, I thought the Cold War was coming to an end and we'd never see the kind of scenes or face the circumstances that we are facing now.

But sadly, events have proved just how wrong that hope would have been. I'm sure we've all been horrified by the heartbreaking events that have unfolded in Ukraine over the last few months. The initial feeling of helplessness that we all felt was clearly rapidly overtaken by a desire to do everything we could to help. That can feel quite challenging at times, to be faced with an event like that and thinking, gosh, how on earth can we help?

How can we step up? Wiltshire has always been really good in leading the way in those circumstances, I don't think it's any surprise that as a county we've stepped up again to support Ukraine and its people. Our country has a long history, very long history of supporting people fleeing war and war torn countries. And once again, it's great that people are offering to do everything they can.

So this evening we wanted to talk through with you the support we've been providing for Ukrainian people coming to Wiltshire. The important role that you've got to play. The situation has been incredibly fast moving, government has brought forward a number of different schemes and programmes, and those have evolved rapidly over time, and so we hope tonight will be useful to clarify a lot of the information available and make sure that we give a good, clear view of the current picture.

And I'm very proud to say, Wiltshire has been one of the most generous areas in the UK with many people offering their homes to Ukrainians fleeing the conflict in their own country, just as we also have been with Syrian refugee programme and the Afghan refugee programme. The latest figures show that we've got 2,830 households registered with the Homes for Ukraine scheme in Wiltshire.

Currently, 416 of those households are matched with a total of 1,150 individuals from Ukraine, and 787 visas have been issued so far. Our teams are working really hard to provide support and carry out the checks needed for those arriving in Wiltshire. We know our communities are joining together. Hubs have been created all over the county to support and provide networking assistance, all the help that's needed.

Added to that, the immense generosity of people donating money and resources, and as I've said, we know Wiltshire always steps up to play its part in providing a welcoming place for those fleeing war and needing help. So I'm now going to pass over to Claire Edgar, who is our Director for Whole Life Pathway, but also more importantly in this case, leads the team which has been coordinating our support here in Wiltshire.

Claire and her team have done an amazing job dealing with a situation that is fluid, where often we are finding or we found guidance has been changing two, three times a day. It has taken a little while for government to sort of work out what the schemes will look like, but now they're in place and now that they are crystallising and the guidance is changing a little less frequently, we're at a point where we can be moving over to making sure that you understand what it is that we can do, that you can do, and how we can all work together to help.

So thank you, and over to Claire.

Thanks, Richard and welcome, everybody. Lovely to see you all online. First of all, I just wanted to take this opportunity to thank everybody on behalf of the council who has provided the level of support that you have in local communities for people arriving from Ukraine, Wiltshire really is quite an amazing county in regards to this, as Richard's already highlighted.

We are one of the highest number of local authorities in terms of people who have registered support and indeed numbers of individuals who are already sponsors, which I'll come on to in just a second. So, yeah, if we could just move on to the next slide. What I'm going to initially talk to you about is the two government schemes that you may have already heard of in the media.

And the reason it's important to understand what these two schemes are is that they are different, and really what we wanted to do today was sort of help you understand some of the subtle differences between the schemes and indeed the role of the local authority in both of these schemes. So first of all, the Homes for Ukraine scheme is the scheme that the local authority has a level of responsibility for, and it is indeed for individuals where you may have already registered your interest in becoming a sponsor and you may have found a guest from Ukraine and that could be an individual or indeed a family,

and then what you're doing is looking to match, and then what we do is we come online with you and offer you a level of support. That support includes, as you probably be aware, for those if you have already gone through this process, some level of checks. So what we do is we do DBS checks, so that's checks around safeguarding and work with the police, national computer information.

We do accommodation checks, and that's to ensure that the property that you have offered meets the standard requirements that have been set by government, and we also go on and undertake a welfare check. So we have a small team currently that's growing quite vastly of caseworkers that undertake this activity, and indeed, we have a refugee resettlement and migration team that will respond to any queries that you may have.

You'll be also aware, for those of you that are linked into this scheme, that your guest will receive £200 as a one off payment, and that is all of the individuals that have come from Ukraine. So if you have a family of four, they should all receive a one off payment of £200 and you as the sponsor will receive £350 per month during the stay of the guest.

So for example, if your guests remain with you for six months, you would receive that £350 per month during that time. We are really heavily reliant on you for information, and indeed, you know, it's important that you tell us when people arrive because we don't always receive that information from central government in a timely way. All the checks that we undertake through the Homes for Ukraine scheme are really important and we want to try and achieve them before your guest arrives,

but we also recognise the need to support people to leave Ukraine as quickly as possible, and so has the government, therefore what they have done is put in additional checks at the border, so to speak, to ensure that visas can be issued in a timely way. Therefore, if your guest has arrived, it won't matter if these checks haven't taken place,

so please be assured we will undertake them, but it doesn't slow the visa application down. We also receive £10,000 per individual as a local authority, and the idea behind that money is really to provide those individuals who are coming across on the Homes for Ukraine scheme with additional support and resources. What we're really keen to do is to enable the family or individual to come and settle as quickly as possible, signpost and guide people into the services that are available to them.

So for example, registering with a GP, a dentist or indeed support in accessing benefits and hopefully employment if people are looking to stay. So you can find out more as you can see on the websites below. But also tonight, I just wanted to touch on the Ukraine Family Scheme. So again, many of you might be aware of this scheme, but it is different to the Homes for Ukraine scheme.

And the ethos behind the family scheme was very much when it first came out was really about families and individuals who had connections in Ukraine being able to ensure that their family member could come back into the UK as quickly as possible. And there's an assumption being made that those family members will be able to support the individuals as they arrive.

They will almost replace the role, if you like, of the caseworker, so the local authority doesn't always have sight of the individuals that come into the council from the family scheme. We are very reliant on the public and individuals to tell us of those individuals that might arrive under the family scheme, and we would urge people to do that.

The reason we want to do that really is to ensure that we've got the support in the right places. Individuals on the family scheme, just as there was on the Homes for Ukraine scheme, can access services, they can access obviously registering with the GP, they can access benefits and they can access education. So it's really important that we work together in order to understand everybody who's coming into Wiltshire to make sure that we have the services in the right places.

And again, you'll be able to see that there is further information on the government website around the Ukraine family scheme. So also to note that just on our Wiltshire Council website, we have a helping crisis link which anyone can access, but it's just to sort of reiterate for those individuals who are on the family scheme or know of individuals that are on the family scheme,

there's further information there in terms of being able to access benefits, et cetera. Thank you. So can I just move on to the next slide, please? So obviously what we'll do is be mindful that questions will keep coming in and we will have an opportunity at the end to answer as many questions as we possibly can. But again, just wanted to touch on some of the support that we are already offering,

and it's important to recognise that this really is coming at it from the Homes for Ukraine scheme, which is the main scheme that we've been asked by local government, sorry, central government to support. So what we've done is, I'm sure, many of you will be aware that visas are issued separately by government, and as I highlighted earlier, they will undertake those initial checks to ensure that the flow of visas takes place in a timely way.

We obviously, as I mentioned, undertake the checks on accommodation and ensure that there's this level of safeguarding that's undertaken too. We make the payments that I've already alluded to and indeed the practical support that the caseworkers within my team will be able to provide individuals on the Homes for Ukraine scheme. Thanks, Dominic. So education, you'll be aware, I'm sure, for those individuals that have already accessed the Homes for Ukraine scheme and indeed the family scheme that all children and young people arriving from Ukraine can access education and childcare whilst in the UK. I think that's a really important point for many people as they arrive in the United Kingdom and indeed in Wiltshire.

We obviously have a very strong ethos in Wiltshire around education and indeed ensuring that children can access the early years settings that are available to them. So school placements for individuals, families can apply through the council website and in the normal way and we've seen a number of families being able to do that in the last few months and that's been very successful, and indeed the process is working extremely well.

What we would say as well is that children under the age of two can attend nursery, a preschool or indeed access a childminder in their area, depending on some of the available spaces. Parents pay for the child to attend that. Some children aged two may qualify for an early years entitlement, which means there'll be no cost to the parent.

This is for 15 hours per week, for 38 weeks per year. For children aged three and four, early years entitlement means there will be no cost to the parent and indeed 15 hours a week per, sorry, 15 hours per week for 38 weeks per year. For those parents who start working and pay taxes in the UK, their three and four year olds are entitled to up to 30 hours per week, which is double the entitlement,

we just touched on there. This all sounds quite complex and indeed can be quite confusing for individuals, but our caseworkers are available to help and signpost people to the right place and indeed provide the right up to date information going forward. And indeed there is further information on the links provided, I hope you find it interesting. So again, please do access these links,

we will make sure that they are available through the chat and online indeed and we'll update the website accordingly as well. So also what we've recognised is education for adults, which is really important, and the first thing to say is that we know that English as a second language for people coming from Ukraine is going to be a challenge for many individuals.

It is not necessarily going to be their second language, but for some it can be, so our sort of ethos within the council is to try and speak to those individuals who have got strong English skills and link in with them and try to understand the Ukrainian culture better and indeed wherever possible, link in to those services whereby English could be taught to individuals on a community and informal basis.

However, we recognise that might take some time and indeed it's about building up relationships with those people who've already arrived. So what we have got is online a face to face English language courses and they are delivered throughout Wiltshire. We also recognise the size of the county, which I'm sure will come up in some of the questions and answers that flow from this discussion.

But we are trying extremely hard to ensure that it's delivered throughout the community, but as I say, these will also be online as well, so again, further information is within our website and indeed on the link below. So as you can see, courses range from one to two hour sessions and indeed ten sessions lasting two hours each. So it's a really strong English is an opportunity for people to learn English whilst they're here,

and indeed we support and try to signpost people to the best courses that are available to them going forward. Thanks, Dominic. OK, so I'm sure many of you will have questions around housing and accommodation, but just to reiterate, as I said earlier, the Homes for Ukraine scheme, we do undertake checks and that really is about ensuring that the property is suitable and safe.

And indeed what we are working towards is trying to obtain those visits and discussions with yourselves as early as possible to avoid any breakdown or any challenges, in terms of the accommodation that you've identified as being suitable, the checks are done by the team and they're really approachable, and indeed, if there's any issues that we can resolve, we will do that,

we will try to find ways through to encourage and support you with your, you know, your desire to become a sponsor. So for example, if somebody required a fire alarm, we would be able to signpost you to various organisations that would be able to support you with that. So our accommodation checks are done and indeed, so smoke detectors may be something that we look at as well.

So please bear with us, we have a small team undertaking the accommodation checks, but they are working at pace to deliver this and hopefully those if you have met them will find them very approachable in terms of being able to meet the needs that have been set out by central government. OK, sorry Dominic, next slide please, and you'll be aware many of you online and for those of you that are new to this, I'm sure it comes as no surprise that our community offer is second to none in Wiltshire.

We have really, really had some amazing contacts from the voluntary and community sector, some of which are very well established community organisations and others that have just organically grown because they wish to support individuals and families fleeing Ukraine. So we have community hubs that have been set up in Salisbury, Devizes and in Chippenham and other parts of the county that themselves are providing a level of support and contact for individuals who are sponsors, which is exactly what we want to see.

We are happy to have conversations with these community hubs and indeed we work really closely with Wiltshire Together, who are a charity organisation that bring other organisations together in order to support as many of the voluntary community sector organisations as we possibly can. What we're very conscious of is we want to think local and act personal, which is a bit of a quote from adult services.

But by that what we mean is that we really recognise that your communities are where individuals and families will be living. So what we want to do is ensure that the support is available and as I say, is organically grown in your area. We will be able to provide a level of individual casework and support to individual families, but we also want to enable people to live and enjoy their time in wheelchair. Donations, as you'll be aware, can be made in various charities organisations. And indeed, some of the community hubs will enable you to drop certain goods off, et cetera, to them, and they'll be able to distribute them more widely across individuals and families, but also two separate organisations as well.

And what we would say is do keep it simple and indeed please engage with these hubs because they are a real wealth of knowledge and support as well. So just again, just for your information, if you wish to make a donation: Ukraine Disaster Emergency Committee Crisis Appeal, the information there is on our website, please contact them and they can signpost and help you see what donations look like and how best you can support.

And of course, I touched on Wiltshire Together, which again, you will be able to access and link in with them, and they can offer signposting and support too. Thanks, Dominic. So what does it take to become a sponsor? So I think you will many of you, I'm sure tonight are very aware of this information, but again, for those of you who are new to this you must kind of recognise the guidance that the government has handed down, it can be accessed very easily on their website, which we'll obviously share with you. But essentially you do need a spare room or at least a spare room or a separate, self-contained accommodation that is unoccupied and it must be available for six months. You are not expected to cover the costs of food and living, and what we would do as part of the Homes for Ukraine scheme is, of course, support individuals to ensure that they were able to access the benefits so that they could afford the food and living expenses.

We also, as I said earlier, will give the individual people from Ukraine £200 as a one off payment until those benefits can be set up. What we would also say is that individuals can access work whilst they're here too, so our caseworkers are working very closely with Department of Work and Pension and indeed other employers across the county in order to access and see if there's any available employment.

So what we're really looking for in terms of the sponsor is to be that coordinator, come to us with queries, et cetera, and indeed we will support as best as we possibly can to signpost and encourage people to access the most appropriate support available to them. Thanks Dom. So that was a bit of a whistle-stop tour, I hope it was helpful, but I think the main purpose of tonight really was to hear from yourselves and hopefully we can answer some queries.

We've received a high number of enquiries through our Refugee Resettlement and Migration team that we've tried to answer as quickly as possible to individuals. What we are very conscious of is that we know there was some themes coming out that lots of people were asking, which is why we're here tonight really to try and answer those questions for you as best as we possibly can.

Please understand that we have responded to this in a very timely way. As I said earlier, Wiltshire Council is one of the largest councils in terms of numbers of people that have registered an interest, and we are so grateful and so proud of everybody across Wiltshire who have done that, but we are a very small team and we are reacting as best as we possibly can and we are growing.

We're out to recruitment internally and externally to ensure that the team is robust and able to respond as quickly as possible. So really it's kind of over to yourselves and indeed welcome everybody and look forward to some of the questions. Thank you.

Thanks, Claire. So that was a really informative presentation, Claire, and as you said, we've already had some questions in and I know the team are answering some of the others. So I'll start with the first question, Claire. So someone has asked, I'm a host and I'm still waiting for my accommodation check, when will that happen? So, Richard, would you be able to answer that one for us please?

Yes, certainly, thanks. Checks that the local authorities have been asked to carry out can now take place after your guest has arrived, I know initially we were told by government it had to be carried out before guests arrived, but the Home Office are now undertaking their own checks prior to guests arrival to try and speed that process up.

It was one of the sticking points as the scheme got up and running. So we at Wiltshire will continue to carry out required checks. The team will be in touch with sponsors to arrange them. We'll do that as soon as we can, but it won't delay the issuing of guests visas. Because we've got one of the highest numbers of Ukrainian nationals coming to settle here,

it is placing a significant workload on our teams. We are coping, but it's taking a little while to get round to all of them, so we've added to staffing to help respond to that. It may be taking a little longer perhaps than you'd like, but we will get to you as soon as we can.

Thank you. Claire, the next question's for you. Our guest is a nursery teacher, so will she be able to have her role here?

Thanks, Ceri. Yeah, great question, particularly around the fact I was just touching on people hopefully gaining employment whilst they remain here. So what we would need to look at is an overseas criminal record check, and I believe in Ukraine, these are called criminal records certificates, and they can be obtained through the Ukrainian consulate. So we do have some information around that, that again, I think we can share hopefully tonight or indeed more widely. And, you know, really that's about ensuring from the count from Wiltshire and indeed the United Kingdom that we follow the normal standard safeguarding checks when working with children. But once that checks being done and indeed, you know, all the information is available and suitable reference, et cetera, then obviously we can support an individual to apply for posts as they become available.

Thanks, Claire. So Richard, that's an issue with Ukrainian students age 16 to 18 with little or no English language who have been told they cannot go to school until September when they will need to secure a sixth form place. What support can the council provide for them?

Yes, thank you. And we've certainly been hearing that there are some issues about the sort of difference between Ukraine's education system and England's education system around that, that age group as well. The process is that they should contact the school in the first instance and the school should be able to offer them a place. They should be offering to place the child, either in year ten or in year 12, if they're in year 11 at the moment to try and address that issue and the difference of sort of the curriculum between the different countries. They can then access support from the post 16 Participation and Skills team with a referral form to be posted on www.workwiltshire.co.uk later this week. This will enable the child to make an informed choice about their next steps and the range of provision available post 16. We're advising schools they may want to develop an initial assessment to check suitability for sixth form in September.

Brilliant. Thank you very much Richard. Claire, the Ukrainian staying with me is a qualified nurse but does not speak English yet. Are there any language courses available to get her up to an acceptable level to work in her field? Yeah.

It's the short answer, but thanks Ceri. Really good question again. So yeah, there is courses available and Wiltshire College is actually really happy to welcome anyone from Ukraine onto their summer English as a second language course, which I believe starts on Monday 20 June and runs to Thursday 14 July. There are also employability skill courses that are being run as well, and that applies to people, students of the age of 16 too, so there is courses available for individuals who require development around their English skills and again we can try and signpost individuals to those courses as they continue to roll through the year.

Thanks, Claire. Richard, will the council help match refugees with the sponsor and help to secure visas?

No, I'm afraid not. That that's absolutely not our role and government, the Home Office have been very clear there. The role of the person who is interested in being a sponsor is to look to, to find that refugee to match with. If you're looking to do that, you can link with the community hubs and a number of charities who are providing matching schemes.

The issuing of visas is entirely down to the UK government. So our role starts once we are informed that someone has been matched and that they are coming here when we start doing checks and then preparing for the work around arrival and supporting them when they're actually inside Wiltshire.

Great, thanks very much, Richard. Claire, what is the situation regarding the Ukrainian people driving in the UK using their Ukrainian driving license? I'm hosting a mum with four children and we cannot all fit in the car, but if she was able to drive she could borrow it to take them places.

Yeah, another great question. So according to the Government website, you can use your Ukrainian driving license for the first 12 months when you arrive into the UK and then you would need to exchange it for a British license, and again, you can find more information through the government website I think "Move to the UK if you're coming from Ukraine" is what it's called.

And indeed we can add that to tonight's information for people so that they can access it easily.

Brilliant. Thanks Claire, and yeah, we'll put the links on the website when we publish the recording, so we'll make sure these are all available. So Richard, our nearest school is too far to walk and the road is dangerous without pavement. There is no bus transport. Is there any provision given the concerns and the mum not being able to drive?

Yes, thank you. If you're looking at the nearest school, some we've recently been made aware, some bus operators are looking at working up a scheme to offer free or reduced travel tickets for Ukrainian guests. We'll share details when we've confirmed them. At the moment I know there's a little bit of uncertainty and a little bit of confusion there, but as soon as we've got clarity, we'll make sure that appears in the sponsor newsletter and on our website.

I think looking more broadly in that we will need to be finding school accommodation for Ukrainians who may be in comparatively rural areas or we may not be able to look at the nearest local school. There may be a role also from the council in our own role to assist with transport there, but it will be very circumstance specific and so we will need to be looking at that, I'm afraid, on a case by case basis.

Thanks, Richard. Claire, I've tried sending emails, but I did not get a response. I'd also like to volunteer my support. However, again, I haven't had a response to those emails.

Thanks, Ceri. Yeah, and apologies, we are trying to get through the emails as quickly as possible, I do accept there may be some delay in that, as we mentioned earlier, the team has obviously been hitting the ground running from a point where we weren't aware that this was going to happen, so we've responded as quickly as possible,

and as Richard said, we are growing the team in a very short space of time. Our inboxes checked every single day and we do try to respond, but we have had a huge high volume of calls and emails coming through regarding questions in this, so we will try to get you as quickly as possible. In terms of volunteer support, as we touched on earlier, the Council is actually performing the accommodation and safety and welfare checks currently, and we're making these a priority. One of the reasons why we've chosen to do it within the Council is indeed because of the DBS checks that those people who are undertaking those checks have to have as well, many of our staff already have those in place, so we can mobilise that very quickly.

We don't as a council currently have a volunteer coordination scheme, but our community hubs, as I mentioned earlier, are really where a lot of this activity is taking place. They are springing up all over Wiltshire, but there is some named ones out there, so for example, Love Devizes and indeed the hub in Salisbury and as I mentioned earlier, Wiltshire Together are really keen in terms of being able to help us and support us to coordinate a level of support to the voluntary and community sector.

And we've also got further information around those hubs through the key information links within Wiltshire Council, so I would urge people to have a look there as well. And we do have our Community Engagement Managers who are really on board with this and have been fantastic in supporting the team in being able to reach out widely to the community and voluntary sector.

So there's a two way dialogue as well, so please do access that website and have a look and see what other opportunities are out there.

Great, thanks very much, Claire. Richard, has Wiltshire Council considered or is there a need for shared arrangements in some cases, for example, if a relative in Wiltshire can support a family or friend from the Ukraine and offer all day support and meals but doesn't have enough bedrooms, do you try to match someone who could offer beds and maybe laundry facilities, but not all day use of their home?

Yes, thank you. This is definitely getting into the complex area now and we've had a couple of, I've certainly seen a couple of emails referring to the potential desire to bring over additional family members, to a host family under the scheme, and it's not entirely clear with government guidance how that should work. So our assessment would be it needs to be an independent arrangement,

if hosts want to jointly support a Ukrainian family, that's fine, but they need to identify a main host which would have to be where the family is sleeping, and that's because we as an authority are required to make sure that we've passed accommodation and safeguarding checks. If it was a joint support arrangement, the host would need to inform us because the other sponsor family would then need safeguarding checks as well.

However, government is clear that there is only the £350 a month "Thank you" payment, one per sponsor family and therefore that would have to be divided, if it were going to be divided between the two hosts who were assisting, we're not able to provide more than that because the money is coming directly from government. I think it's probably worth noting that the local authority may well have a role to play when it comes to re matching families if we

end up with host sponsor relationships breaking down, but we just don't have that role in the initial matching and it's very clear, been made very clear to us by government that isn't our role here. So yes, we could try and help, but this will be quite a confused situation.

Great, thank you very much for trying to shed some light there, Richard.

Claire, would you be able to remind us of the site to claim the immediate £200 and start the money to the family?

Thanks, Ceri. Yeah, what happens is we need to be notified through the resettlement team that your family have arrived. Unfortunately, we don't get that clarification from yourselves. So if you could let us know and then your guests will be given an electronic voucher worth the £200. What we do want to double check, though, is that we're sending it to the right person,

so we do like to make sure that that address, that email address that the guest is giving us is correct, so we would ask for confirmation of that address as well to make sure it is going to the right person. So there is a process to follow, but if you could alert us as soon as your guest arrives, we can ensure that process is started immediately.

What we also do as well, because it's a voucher and you're able to access that money through pay points, which are often in the local shops, is we will also provide you with a bit of information as to where those shops are, near to you as well, so do get in touch as soon as your guests arrive, then we can make sure that all that process all starts as quickly as possible.

Great, thank you. Claire, will Ukraine pupils receive free school meals? Yes, it's my understanding that Ukraine pupils will be entitled to free school meals?

Thank you. Richard, our community is keen to support Ukrainian guests settling into our area. How can we go about doing this?

I think it probably depends where you are, but the best place to start would be to look and find your nearest community hub. These have started, and I've sprung up all over Wiltshire. If you look on our support for Ukraine web pages, you can find out where they're currently based or if there isn't one, we've got people wanting to form additional community hubs all the time.

But also look at the Wiltshire Together website, which is providing that information too. So there's an awful lot out there if you want to help. So yeah, reach out and find some like minded people. Thank you. Claire, do we believe we have enough school places? Yes, we have sufficient places across our schools, and we will be working closely with families as they apply for those places. We welcome the Ukrainian children and young people into the schools and there is no sort of issues or adverse impact on Wiltshire children as they come into the school process.

Thank you. Richard, what happens if the relationship between a host family and their Ukrainian guests breaks down?

I think the first thing we'd urge you to do is email: refugees@wiltshire.gov.uk (opens new window) with information on the breakdown and the current situation. We're acutely aware that we're dealing with people who are going to be traumatised, they're fleeing a war zone, and things are not going to be as simple as perhaps we would hope in all cases.

So we'd respond, first we'd look to try and offer advice and support to resolve any issues. If all else fails, we'd make efforts to organise another placement but our team, as we've said, is extremely busy. It may not be able to happen immediately. It is something that I've been discussing through the Local Government Association and James Jamieson, the chair there, talking to him about it on Friday, last Friday, about the need to make sure that we have got a bank of people that we can use to try and assist,

if relationships do break down, ideally we'd hope they wouldn't. So if you feel there are urgent needs for the placement breaking down, I'd urge anyone to call our safeguarding number, particularly if there are children involved and there's any concern about safeguarding: 0300 456 0100. And there's also and advice on child protection at Wiltshire Council and advice and contact for adult safeguarding: Your Care Your Support Wiltshire.

And again, we'll make sure that details are included.

Thanks, Richard. And Claire, are you able to provide a rematch, Richard, did touch on this briefly, but are we able to provide a rematch if one family relationship does break down?

So there is, we're still awaiting some further government guidance on this, in fact, what we're seeing at the moment is there's a workshop tomorrow actually around the role of the local authority and re matching, so we probably will have further information to update around that, as this comes out. But as you know, we understand there's some further sort of relationships out there that have already developed and indeed that some of that can take place informally.

What we would ask, though, is that you do inform us of this as soon as possible so that we can make sure that, again, the accommodation checks take place and indeed that the welfare checks take place so that everything is exactly as it would be in a normal sponsor and guest relationship, that's the role of the council, really, is to ensure that the property is sound and that the person arriving is safe.

So we wouldn't strictly be doing the re matching at the moment, that could, as I say, change moving forward. But currently, you know, we do accept and I think the government also accepts that some of these relationships have already evolved and indeed this this charity organisations locally, nationally that are doing some of this work anyway and obviously, as I say, please let us know if that happens, because what we would then need to do is follow that up.

And then just bear in mind as the sponsor, the lead sponsor, as Richard talked about earlier, is the individual that receives the £350 and is the person that still remains responsible in terms of some of the requirements that that we've touched on earlier, so it's important that if that shifts and changes that we're able to support and navigate that together.

Thanks, Claire, that's great. So Richard, with all the support for Ukrainians, have we forgotten about Afghan people who have come to Wiltshire?

No, absolutely not. We pledged earlier this year to provide 20 Afghan families with homes in Wiltshire, our resettlement team is continuing to work to achieve this. I think it's fair to say that there have been complexities trying to match some families with precisely where they would like to be inside the UK, but alongside our partners we're supporting a number of refugees currently in the bridging hotel in Wiltshire. We've got a number of families settled in Wiltshire.

We would expect to see more settling into the country in long term accommodation soon. So, so that work continues and is ongoing and I wouldn't want it to be forgotten. It's another really important, really important piece of the support that we've been providing as an authority and as a country.

Thanks, Richard. Claire, what happens if a Ukrainian guest comes to stay in Wiltshire, however, the owner of the property is not based in Wiltshire?

That's a really interesting question, isn't it? So we would work with the other local authority in terms of linking in with the host where the property might be, and we would still need to carry out the relevant safeguarding checks, et cetera. So if the person was out of Wiltshire, but the property was in Wiltshire, we would be connecting with that local authority and obviously having access to the property would be vital to that.

But we do that, that is happening, so it shouldn't cause any difficulties, it's just to say that we would provide that level of relationship with a different local authority just to ascertain checks and make sure everything was safe. Thank you.

Claire, another question for you. I'm not hosting, but I have offered to drive refugees to the doctor's, shopping, et cetera. Do I still need to have a check done?

Regarding a DBS check, I think, yeah. So the answer to that is yes. So what we are saying as the local authority is that we would follow the normal procedures for people who were doing voluntary work, and it would be normal and expected of individuals who were performing voluntary duties to have a DBS check.

Yes. Thank you. Richard, question for you, is there a tie up between Swindon and Wiltshire councils?

So formally? No. We're required as local authorities to be putting in the same, putting in our provision in our own areas. However, I've certainly discussed this with the leader of Swindon Council. I'm sure that the Claire's professional network have been discussing this across the Southwest, certainly the Southwest are trying to work together as far as we we can to make sure that the appropriate responses are coming all over the Southwest of

the UK. When it comes to voluntary groups, I think there probably, well there is far more scope for that joint working and a tie up. If we look at the support that's gone in for the Afghan refugees, that's definitely been not just constrained to Wiltshire, it's, it's been Wiltshire, Swindon, all over, so yes it's definitely going on at the community level, but our formal role as council is very much to deal with hosts that have come forward and be matched inside our authority area.

Great. Thanks very much, Richard. Claire, someone else has asked regarding qualifications. I've had a doctor and a vet that would like to work here. How can they find out if their qualifications are valid?

Thanks, Ceri And again, really good question, and it's really interesting, isn't it, that individuals are coming across with such high, high qualifications. So it is quite likely that those sort of qualifications will need to be converted for obvious reasons. But I believe if you access the UK ENIC is linked to the UK National Information Centre, you can find out a little bit more about that.

So there is a website and it's ENIC.org.uk. But again, we can make sure that we put that in on our website, Ceri, when we put all the notes, et cetera, from tonight.

That's great. Thanks very much, Claire. So I'm just having a look at the chat for some more questions here. Claire, are Ukrainian guests able to get £200 if they arrived on the family scheme?

Unfortunately, no, it would just be the Homes for Ukraine scheme that, that the money comes into, and what we have recognised is as a council and indeed across the south west region and indeed locally and Local Government Association has also highlighted this, is the discrepancy between the two schemes. So that has been raised and we are obviously talking with central government about that, but at the moment it is only for those individuals that arrive on the Homes for Ukraine scheme.

So just to add in that we've absolutely made sure that's being raised with ministers. They are well aware of the issues. It was raised with civil servants again in conversations last Friday, so there's nothing more we can do there, we hope government will streamline the schemes, but at the moment it hasn't happened. Thanks Richard, that's very helpful.

Someone has asked if we'll be able to provide slides in Ukrainian and I'm sure, Claire, we can certainly work to try and get those you questions translated for them. We would try very much. Yeah, no problem.

Yeah, we would definitely try and get that sorted for you. Bear with me, apologies. Claire, we've got one here, apologies to put you on the spot with this one. What happens if the sponsor is a local church, who would be named?

That's a very good question. The organisation, as far as I'm aware, and I'd have to double check the guidance. There is, there is some information around organisations, but currently you have to have one lead sponsor, as we touched on earlier, and the guidance hasn't come out around what will happen for organisations. So I'm sure, for example, lots of charities, especially national charities, will want to step in as well.

But as it stands today, it's still based on the individual or family, if you like, across Wiltshire who are classed as the lead sponsor. So you'd have to as a church or a voluntary organisation and you'd have to establish who that lead sponsor would be.

Thanks, Claire. Sorry to put you on the spot with that one.

Fine. Not a problem.

Richard, how and when we request an accommodation check or does this happen automatically as a result of our permission to travel application, as we've only just applied for permission to travel letter?

You don't need to request an accommodation check. We are notified once families are matched, the information comes through to us, and we will then make contact to arrange a suitability check as soon as we can. I can't guarantee when it will be, but it will be as soon as we possibly can do it.

Great. Thank you very much.

Claire. Is there a way for people to check that their property has been registered under the scheme?

Not publicly. That's something that we would be able to do in the team, but again, that's about, there's a difference between those individuals who've registered and those individuals who have found a guest. So there's this two differences there. So there's a system that we have access to called the Foundry System which logs everybody who's registered an interest, but as you can imagine, that is different because they may not have been able to find somebody across Ukraine because they may not have connections like some other people might have.

So that is held within central government, and we have access to that from a Wiltshire perspective. But as you can imagine, that that's not public facing for a number of reasons, really. But we might be able to find out if somebody is registered on it, but at the moment, we have as Richard said at the very beginning, we have over 2,800 people on it.

So that is just for Wiltshire, so, you know, it's a very large number of people that are registered which is amazing, and it's something I'm incredibly proud of in terms of working in Wiltshire. It's phenomenal, really. But we wouldn't necessarily go in there and do that piece of work at this time.

Great. Thanks very much, Claire. So, Richard, should we apply for school places before our guests arrive? Yeah, normally we'd only accept school applications from the person who's got parental responsibility for a child. That'll be a little difficult if you're currently stuck in Ukraine or on the Polish border or somewhere in Europe. So in this instance, we're very happy to accept application forms submitted by sponsors on their behalf, once we receive the application we will contact you by email if we need any further information.

And if you want guidance on how to apply for school place, you can find it in the information pack for Ukrainian families living in Wiltshire. Again, we'll make sure those links are also round and included so people can get hold of them.

Great. Thank you very much, Richard. So we've got one here, Claire. So what, EAL support will be given to Ukrainian pupils.

So we have ethnic minority traveller support services within our schools and indeed within the council, so they would be able to access support through those, those teams. Does that answer the question, Ceri?

Yes, it does. Thank you. And for anyone who doesn't know EAL is English as an Additional Language, just in case anyone didn't know. That, it is really important that that that support is provided because we have to be honest, the vast bulk of people coming from Ukraine do not have English as a second language, Russian is the second language in Ukraine. This support is absolutely critical.

Absolutely, Richard is completely spot on, and indeed our services have really recognised that and we've had some amazing offers of support like you've just touched on in terms of translating documents, et cetera. But we do recognise that we don't have, you know, a sort of plethora of people that speak Ukrainian, so, you know, within the teams and within the support services, you know, we are really keen to continue to kind of learn the culture, and indeed, you know, that's something that we're very mindful of, and the schools have been fantastic in terms of being able to support us with that. Brilliant.

Thank you very much. And we have got some questions still in the chat, but we'll provide answers for these afterwards because I know that we can't answer them all this evening. So what we'll do is I'll pass back to Richard now just for some final closing words, and like I say, we'll make sure that we publish all of these questions afterwards so that you can see them.

All right. Thank you.

Yes, thank you, Ceri. As we clearly encountered tonight, there are a lot of questions and an awful lot of information. We're putting it all on our website, please look for Wiltshire Council, Ukraine. There's more information on the GOV.UK pages and we will make sure that we share all the links again in the chat, because there are there are far too many places to be able to sort of grab them, write them down, and doubtless you'll be coming back and thinking, gosh, what was that link that they were talking about? We'll be sharing links to the webinar, so you can watch again to catch all those links that you missed when we were talking too quickly or to share with those who couldn't attend. So on behalf of Ceri, Claire, myself, I think a couple of things to say.

First, thank you to all of you who've offered to host families. It really is great to see. It's I'm sure it's not something any of you have done lightly. It's a significant responsibility, and it really is extremely gratifying to see the way that Wiltshire is pulling together on this. Thank you to my council staff for the work that they are putting in, going yet again, above and beyond to assist with schemes looking to help people who are fleeing from war in Europe, what an awful thing to have to say. Thank you, everyone. Enjoy the rest of your evening. I hope you found that useful.

Ukrainian guests need to register as new patients at their local GP surgery. Details on registering with a doctor, getting medicines and medical support in an emergency is detailed in this government advice - Gov.uk: Guidance Welcome: a guide for Ukrainians arriving in the UK (opens new window)

All the schools are ready for children to join. Schools have support via our Ethnic Minority and Traveller Achievement Service (EMTAS) team to help children to develop their English. The application needs to go through the usual route via the Council website.

Please email H4U@wiltshire.gov.uk (opens new window) to alert us of your guests' arrival.

We aren't directly in this but there the link to relevant webpage https://www.vodafone.co.uk/mobile/everyone-connected/charities-connected (opens new window) a number of mobile services are offering charities free sim cards. Red cross is one of these.

Email H4U@wiltshire.gov.uk (opens new window) with more information and we can provide some advice.

They will all need permission to travel letters.

We at Wiltshire Council will continue to carry out the required checks and the team will be in touch with sponsors to arrange, but these will not delay the issue of the guests' visas. We are working through the accommodation checks as quickly as possible.

The refugee inbox is not just Ukraine queries and is extremely busy.

H4U@wiltshire.gov.uk (opens new window) has been recently built so hosts and guests can get in touch with us around casework queries, payment queries, notification of arrivals and voucher queries. Please use this email for these queries.

We are now using refugees@wiltshire.gov.uk (opens new window) primarily to manage DBS check queries and accommodation checks.

Please only email one inbox, your email will be picked up. These mailboxes are not for urgent or emergency requests. For urgent needs, please see advice below:

My Ukrainian guest needs a dentist urgently what do I do?

You can call NHS Dental Helpline 0333 0063 300 for emergency dental needs. More details on how to find an NHS dentist are available here How to find an NHS dentist - NHS (opens new window)

My guest has a medical emergency what should they do?

They should go to the nearest hospital with an Accident and Emergency department. If it is an extreme emergency you can call 999 or 112 and ask for an ambulance to go to hospital. If they need treatment or advice that is not an emergency, but cannot wait until they can next see their GP, you can obtain advice by calling 111. More information is here Week one guidance for Ukrainians arriving in the UK - GOV.UK (opens new window)

My guest has left unexpectedly and I believe that they have gone missing - what do I do?

If you have real concerns they have gone missing please call the police on 999. Then please email us so we are informed at refugees@wiltshire.gov.uk (opens new window). If they have gone missing but you're unsure if it's urgent please call 101.

I have safeguarding concerns regarding my Ukrainian guests what do I do?

Please contact either Adult or Children's Services on the following number 0300 456 0100. Further details are available through the Wiltshire Council Children Protection - Wiltshire Council (Children) and Safeguarding - Your care Your support Wiltshire (opens new window) (Adults)

Urgent needs due to the placement breaking down, then please call our safeguarding number 0300 456 0100. Further advice is available through the Wiltshire Council Children Protection - Wiltshire Council (Children) and Safeguarding - Your care Your support Wiltshire (opens new window) (Adults)

The government has just provided some key steps for the early days when your guests are in the UK. Please have a look at this information which explains about setting up a bank account, how to claim universal credit and accessing health services. GOV.UK: Collection - Homes for Ukraine: Guidance for guests (opens new window)

Once you have found a match and processed the visa applications your details will be uploaded onto a government system called Foundry. We are currently working through all those registered to carry out the necessary checks which include a property suitability check. You don't need to make contact to check if your property has been registered.

The checks which local authorities have been asked to carry out can take place after your guest has arrived, as the Home Office will undertake their own checks prior to the guests' arrival to speed up the process. We at Wiltshire Council will continue to carry out the required checks and the team will be in touch with sponsors to arrange, but these will not delay the issue of the guests' visas. We are working through accommodation checks as quickly as possible.

Any accommodation that is being used to house Ukrainian guests will need to be checked for suitability. We ask sponsors to communicate with us if they are planning for their guests to be staying somewhere else rather than their own home.

Accommodation can be independent from the sponsor's home but a suitability of accommodation check needs to be carried out to ensure the accommodation is safe and suitable. No rent can be charged to the family for using the accommodation and it needs to be available to them for at least six months

Contact H4U@wiltshire.gov.uk (opens new window).

We have details on our website on supporting Ukrainian people and their families .

English lessons can be accessed via our Family and Community Learning Service.

Website: https://workwiltshire.co.uk/family-learning (opens new window)

Facebook: https://en-gb.facebook.com/Wiltsfamilylearning/ (opens new window)

Email: familyandcommunitylearning@wiltshire.gov.uk (opens new window)

Telephone: 01225 770478

Twitter: @wiltsFaCL (opens new window)

Please contact UKVI Contact UK Visas and Immigration for help (opens new window) for support with visas. The local authority are not able to influence when visas are issued and unfortunately we don't have data on how the wait time between visas and permission to travel letters being issued.

Contact UKVI Contact UK Visas and Immigration for help (opens new window).

We are working to provide a transcript on our web page and we'd encourage people to use Google Translate to provide it in Ukraine or Russian.

This is something that we are looking at implementing.

Once you have been matched to a sponsor your details are published onto the government system which we are able to access and will then use the contact details to arrange a suitable date and time to carry out an accommodation check.

The employer will carry out DBS checks. In addition to DBS checks, Ukrainian guests are likely to need an overseas criminal records check. In Ukraine these are called "Criminal Record Certificates" and can be obtained from the Ukrainian consulate: Criminal Records Certificate from Ukraine (opens new window)

The checks which local authorities have been asked to carry out can take place after your guest has arrived, as the Home Office will undertake their own checks prior to the guests' arrival to speed up the process. We at Wiltshire Council will continue to carry out the required checks and the team will be in touch with sponsors to arrange, but these will not delay the issue of the guests' visas. We are working through the accommodation checks as quickly as possible.

You don't need to request an accommodation check as once you have been linked with a family your information will be made available on the government website and we will make contact with you to arrange a suitability check. There is only the ability to have one lead sponsor per Ukrainian group. Any accommodation that is being used to house Ukrainian guests will need to be checked for suitability. We ask sponsors to communicate with us if they are planning for their guests to be staying somewhere else rather than their own home.

Some bus companies have offered this. Currently we are aware of REDs operating in the South offering discounted transport. We are looking into other bus companies to establish if any other companies are offering similar.

Sponsors need to inform us of guest arrival.

Council tax rates are not affected by this programme.

There are community hubs being set up across Wiltshire. More details are available here Key information links - Wiltshire Council.

This would need to be carried out by their employer.

It is likely that qualifications will need to be converted. UK ENIC is a UK National Information Centre for the recognition and evaluation of international qualifications and skills Home Page (enic.org.uk). This does not need to be done by the council.

It depends how you have offered to volunteer in this manner. If it is via a community group, they will have their own requirements. If it is done as an independent arrangement, it would need to be managed independently. Wiltshire Council is not currently providing a volunteer scheme of this nature.

We have regular catch ups with partners across the South West including from health and other agencies as well as our neighbouring local authorities.

If the lessons are via Wiltshire College tutors will be able to advise.

Wiltshire Council has not needed to relocate a family due to a village being too isolating.

Currently sponsors and guests need to find each other and match themselves externally. There is no single route to matching, and both the sponsor and guest could use a number of channels to find a match. They could for example already have a relationship in place with a friend in the UK/Ukraine, they could be friends of friends, or could find a sponsor or guest through a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), charity, or other channel.

There will soon be a mechanism for the local authority to potentially match you with Ukrainian guests who require a new sponsor via rematching. This isn't available right now but will go live in the next couple of weeks.

Currently the government scheme which provides the £200 emergency payment is for those arriving on the Homes for Ukraine scheme.

We are sharing information on community hubs which are being set up across the county and you can find the information on Key information links - Wiltshire Council, which may be a good place to start. Information is added to this regularly.

Also the Wiltshire Together platform is collating information on community events for Ukraine guests and hosts so it would be useful to share any details with them too. Wiltshire Together (opens new window)

We usually only accept school applications from a person who has parental responsibility for the child. However, in this instance we are happy to accept application forms submitted by sponsors on their behalf. Once we receive the application we will contact you by email if we require any further information. Guidance to how to apply for a school places can be found in the Welcome pack for Ukrainian refugees.

For information on local schools please visit Forms, guides and policy documents which has a map showing schools and also a downloadable guide for each area of Wiltshire which lists all our schools.

Schools in Wiltshire have lots of experience in supporting children who are at an early stage of learning English - there are already over a hundred different first languages spoken by children attending our schools and thousands of multilingual children. Children whose first language is not English are one of the most successful groups in schools in England and in Wiltshire they do particularly well. Schools will expect children to join mainstream lessons more or less immediately on admission, but will use supportive strategies that will ensure that, while things may be a little confusing at first, children will soon settle in and start to develop their English.

There's also support and advice from Wiltshire Council and from our Academy Trusts that schools can draw on if they need a little extra help making provision for a child without much English (yet).

Families can help at home by learning a bit of English together, but also by encouraging children to continue to use their first language - we know that children who are confident and fluent in their first language acquire English more quickly at school. If you can say something in one language, it's easier to learn it in another.

Sponsors and guests will find each other and match themselves externally. There is no single route to matching, and both the sponsor and guest could use a number of channels to find a match. They could for example already have a relationship in place with a friend in the UK/Ukraine, they could be friends of friends, or could find a sponsor or guest through a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), charity, or other channel.

Applications are normally processed in date order from when your documents were uploaded, or after your appointment at a visa application centre. We are working seven days a week, but it will take some time before we can issue decisions to everyone who has applied.

We know that some applicants have been waiting for nearly three weeks for their application to be processed. We are working to resolve this and speed up the processing of applications.

Some children aged two may qualify for Early Years Entitlement, which means there will be no cost to the parent. This is for 15 hours per week for 38 term weeks per year. Childcare Choices (opens new window).

Please apply via the council: Guidance to how to apply for a school places can be found in the Welcome pack for Ukrainian refugees.

For information on local schools please visit Forms, guides and policy documents which has a map showing schools and also a downloadable guide for each area of Wiltshire which lists all our schools.

Thank you for these suggestions however the system we use is a DLUHC owned platform. It is not owned by Wiltshire Council and cannot be adapted by Wiltshire Council for use on other schemes.

Ukrainian guests are likely to need an overseas criminal records check. In Ukraine these are called "Criminal Record Certificates" and can be obtained from the Ukrainian consulate:  Criminal Records Certificate from Ukraine (opens new window). Education settings would need to ensure they are compliant with the statutory safeguarding guidance for schools Keeping children safe in education - GOV.UK (opens new window). They can get advice on what they need to do from their local authority safeguarding advisor.

The process is that they should contact the school in the first instance and the school should be able to offer them a place. They should place the child in Y10 or Y12 if they are a Y11. They can then access support from the Post 16 Participation and Skills Team with a referral form to be posted on www.workwiltshire.co.uk (opens new window) later this week. This will enable the child to make an informed choice about their next steps and the range of provision available post 16. We are advising schools that they may want to develop an initial assessment to check suitability for 6^th form in September.

For English support we have the following offer from Wiltshire College:

Courses are available for 16-19 year old students who have English as a second language. Learners will improve their general knowledge of the English Language and work on improving their reading, writing, speaking and listening skills.

Wiltshire College is happy to welcome any Ukrainian refugees (either adult or 16-18 year olds) onto their ESOL Summer School Programme which is running from Monday 20 June to Thursday 14 July. These courses will have an 'Employability Skills' focus for the Entry level classes and a 'Life in the UK / Citizenship' focus for the Level 1 and 2 classes.

Year 11 learners will be very welcome to apply to join the specialist 'ESOL Full-Time Study Programme' course, which is a 4 day a week course that includes ESOL, Maths, Citizenship and IT class within its programme of learning.

We will be promoting this offer very soon.

According to the govt website you can use your Ukrainian driving licence for the first 12 months after you arrive. Then you will need to exchange it for a British licence. More details here - Move to the UK if you're coming from the Ukraine - GOV.UK (opens new window)

We have recently been made aware that some bus operators may be offering free or reduced travel tickets for our Ukrainian guests and we will share the detail and processes when we have confirmed them in the sponsor newsletter and on our website.

The government requires local councils to carry out accommodation and safety and welfare checks and we are making these a priority. Our teams are working hard to ensure we continue these necessary checks but we do ask for patience as we work through this important work with the high numbers involved.

We currently don't have a volunteer co-ordination scheme however we have a number of community hubs which are being set up across Wiltshire to provide help to Ukraine guests and we would encourage people to get in touch with them directly. Information on hubs we are aware of is available on our website. Key information links - Wiltshire Council

This would need to be an independent arrangement. If hosts wish to jointly support a Ukraine family that is fine but they need to identify who would be the main host, which would have to be where the family are sleeping. This is because they have to pass the accommodation and safeguarding checks. If it was a joint support arrangement, the host would need to inform us as the other sponsor family would need safeguarding checks also. The main host would receive the £350 thank you payment and it would have to be divided independently (there is only one payment per sponsor family regardless of number of hosts).

The local authority will play a role in rematching of families where this is absolutely necessary but there isn't a role for local authorities in initial matching.

Once your guest has arrived under the Homes for Ukraine scheme you need to contact us to let us know. Your guest will be given an electronic voucher code worth £200. These vouchers can be sent to an email address and are redeemable anywhere where there is a 'Paypoint' point. There are a number of Paypoint points across Wiltshire and full details will be provided to you.

Yes. We have sufficient spaces across our schools and we will work closely with families so they apply for places. Welcoming Ukrainian children and young people into our schools will not adversely impact school places for Wiltshire children.

All Ukraine nationals have the right to work. The government welcome pack for Ukraine refugees has general information on how they can prepare for work. The government website also has information on how employers can provide work for Ukrainian guests. Offer work to people who have come to the UK from the Ukraine - GOV.UK (opens new window)

You can email H4U@wiltshire.gov.uk (opens new window) with information on the breakdown and the current situation. We will respond and first try and look to offer advice and support to try and resolve any issues but if all else fails we will make efforts to organise another placement but be aware the team is very busy and this will not be able to happen immediately. If you feel there are urgent needs due to the placement breaking down, then please call our safeguarding number 0300 456 0100. There is also advice available on Child protection - Wiltshire Council Advice and Contact (adults) Safeguarding - Your care Your support Wiltshire (opens new window)

The government has introduced new guidance on this which we are looking to implement. Obviously we have to be mindful of safeguarding and carrying out the necessary checks on a new placement. If informal rematching takes place please let us know at H4U@wiltshire.gov.uk (opens new window).

No. Earlier this year we pledged to provide 20 Afghan families with homes in Wiltshire and our resettlement team continues to work tirelessly to achieve this. Alongside partners we're supporting a number of refugees who are currently in the bridging hotel in Wiltshire. We also have a number of families already settled in Wiltshire and we hope to have more settling into the county in longer term accommodation soon.

The council supports the voluntary and community sector and we meet regularly with them however we recognise this is really important to be carried out through local organisations. The Wiltshire Together website has a host of information and is a good site to visit for information.

Good evening everyone, welcome, thank you for joining us. 

We last held a Ukraine webinar back in May, at that point we had 416 homes matched with 1,150 Ukrainians. As of today, we've got 601 sponsors matched with 1,547 people and based on the latest figures, we've got 450 households who've got Ukrainian guests at the moment with a total of 1,103 guests, that number keeps changing all the time.

I'm really proud is probably the right word to say that we are, the people of Wiltshire have really rallied round to support Ukrainians, to support Ukraine after Russia's appalling attack. We have the second largest number of Ukrainians in the country for any local authority area, and we've got a long history of supporting refugees through this sort of scheme with a Syria scheme and with the Afghan scheme.

We are getting now to the point where we are six months in from the war starting and from the very beginning we've known that where people are opening up their homes, they're doing so on the basis that it will be for a minimum of a six month period, it could be longer, but not necessary and that's absolutely understandable, people want to help, but there are complexities with having people in your home, people have certain ability perhaps to have people in for a certain length of time and not beyond.

So we've always known that there would be a need to work out a more permanent solution for the Ukrainians and we've sort of been doing what we can to try and get ready for it, but we also need to acknowledge that this is not going to be simple, again, we've known it's not going to be simple from the beginning. I have frequently discussed it with James Jamieson, the chair of the Local Government Association, with MPs, with Ministers, with leaders of other councils, to try and make sure that the blips in the system, the things that could be done better are being ironed out, and we've made some progress, but we're now getting to a point where it is and I'm not going to mince words, it is going to be very difficult and as a council, we've been getting ready to deal with this for some time.

The Resettlement Migration Service team and staff are working really hard to support to liaise with partners so that Ukrainians coming here are feeling settled. The hubs, I can't thank enough the work of the hubs that have been going on across the county. I've had the opportunity to visit the Salisbury hub to talk to some of the Ukrainians, to see the work that's been going on and again, the voluntary sector, the communities have been rallying around, which we always do in Wiltshire. But I'm always, I shouldn't be surprised I'm always relieved when we continue to do the same thing because it is so effective when you see it in action.

Coming on to the position we're in now, I don't want to try and sugarcoat this, I've been discussing it regularly with Claire, with Terence Herbert the Chief Executive, with other officers. We had a look about three weeks ago, we looked at rental properties in Wiltshire, there really weren't many and there was only one rental property that was pitched at a price that would allow local housing allowance to be used to rent it. That's the housing, the  kind of support that someone will be able to get if they're on Universal Credit, which many not all, but most of the Ukrainian families are on.

So the private rental sector is not looking good. I will let officers run through the details. I won't steal their thunder. I could talk for Britain on housing, it's probably best I don't. But this is going to be tricky and we are looking at as innovative methods, innovative solutions as we can. I don't have answers on all of these yet. We can't give you details on all of it. There is discussion going on. I was talking to Danny Kruger about an idea with Laura Mayes, my deputy, last week. So we are looking at flexible ways to try and address the problem, but I don't want to underestimate quite how challenging this is going to be and for people, particularly if you're watching as hosts who haven't had to deal with the housing process, it's very rigid, it's very formulaic, it's very set by government, it's a process, it's not something we have a great deal of control over and it's important to make sure that you understand and that you can all then assist Ukrainian guests to understand what that process is and how to make the most from it. I think I'll stop there, I could ramble on for a long time, but I will pass you over to Claire Edgar who's Director of Whole Life Pathway and has been, along with our team, doing an absolutely sterling job in responding to the demands that we've been placing on them in terms of the Ukraine situation.

Thank you, Claire.

Thanks, Richard, thank you for that introduction and thank you, everybody, for joining the call this evening. It's a pleasure again to have a webinar focused in on the Ukraine people living in Wiltshire and obviously we just wanted to take this opportunity to thank everybody who's become a sponsor in Wiltshire for all their support over the last few months, but we are, as Richard highlighted, aware that for many people this is a time where we're starting to reflect on next steps and indeed what the council are planning on doing. So what I wanted to touch on first was obviously just to remind everybody of the two schemes that people will be impacted with.

So the first one many of you will be familiar with because you're probably living through it at the moment, and that of course is the Homes for Ukraine scheme and that is the scheme which sponsors obviously linked together with individuals and families across Ukraine and basically come to Wiltshire, and within that scheme the sponsors will receive the thank you payment of £350 and when the Ukrainian individuals and families arrive, they will also receive £200 emergency payment.

We've obviously worked really, really hard to ensure that that money's been released in a timely way and I do believe that we've been quite successful in achieving that and we continue to have a really strong team to deliver that moving forward. 

I just also wanted to take the opportunity to touch on the family scheme. I'm very conscious that that is a scheme that many people will be aware of, but they'll also know that that's not a scheme that the local government,  such as ourselves, are actually linked into for various reasons, as to when it was originally set up and indeed kind of where the government has chosen to go with it. So people will be aware that the family scheme is when an individual has family connections in the country and they organise basically the travel and indeed the settling into Wiltshire themselves.

The reason it's really important to raise that is because we don't always know who's arriving into Wiltshire through the family scheme, we're also very mindful that we don't have financial resources to support individuals that arrive in the family scheme as well. What I would say today is that we are really conscious of that and we have been working with our local MPs and Richard and other elected members have been raising the profile of how we could perhaps look to merge these schemes going forward.

So I just wanted to put some reassurance in there, but as with so much of this topic, the guidance and policy and decision making sits at central government as opposed to the council itself. So whilst we continue to lobby and indeed raise these concerns, we do have to take into consideration that these are decisions that have to be made via the government themselves directly, but we are flagging these issues on a regular basis as Richard alluded to earlier.

So just in terms of slides, you can see that I've just highlighted what the two schemes are and then obviously how you can actually find further information, particularly around the Homes for Ukraine scheme and just to touch that actually on the 'Homes for Ukraine scheme: record your interest', that is where you can start to register your interest if you'd like to become a sponsor moving forward.

Thank you.

So you'll be aware that, just moving on to the next slide, please. So be aware that we do receive further funding through central government, so obviously I touched on the £350 thank you payment and the £200 emergency payment. But we as a council also receive direct funding as well under the Homes for Ukraine scheme and I think it's really important that everybody understands how we're using that money. Obviously as a council we like to be open and transparent and so we want to be really clear in terms of how we are using that money going forward, it is obviously being used and ring-fenced specifically for people from Ukraine and you'll be able to see just on this slide some of the examples that we have actually used to ensure that basically we have some infrastructure and support in place for people arriving, that we continue to look at that, we have a regular fortnightly meeting which includes wider partners, including our health colleagues and indeed South West regional colleagues as well, to look at how best we can work better together to ensure that we are, one: utilising the funds as best as possible and two: what good practice looks like moving forward. So you will see that obviously a lot of that support is absolutely critical in order for us to deliver services and support for individuals as they arrive and you'll notice that we obviously look to use that money, for example, to undertake the DBS checks that you'll be aware of as well.

We do continue to see sponsors registering onto the Homes for Ukraine scheme and we do continue to see people coming into the country. We do recognise that's slowed down a little bit, but we also recognise that certain things have happened as you are very well aware, I'm sure, in Ukraine at the moment and there's a likelihood that it's likely to increase further. Okay. Thank you.

So I just also wanted to take the opportunity just to touch on some of the activity that's taken place in our education sector. So if we could just move on to, thank you. 

So we're really conscious in Wiltshire that people are arriving as a family and we are really delighted to see that and indeed really pleased to hear of all the lovely stories of children arriving in Wiltshire and being able to register with our schools. And I just wanted to highlight some of the work and activity that's been taking place. I'm extremely proud of the fact that we've been able to find and offer placements to all the children that have arrived, but it must be said that is significantly challenging as we move forward and indeed if the numbers grow, so you know, we just have to kind of bear in mind some of the difficulties that we may face if we do see an  increase in activity moving forward of arrivals coming.

So our teams in the Education Department, as you can see, work tirelessly to ensure that they find school placements. They worked really hard to try and find those school placements as near and in the local catchment area, so to speak, of where the families are living, and obviously they work within a statutory timeline, which is 15 days and we've almost achieved that, which is a real, real achievement and success for the education teams. And again, I can't thank them enough because they haven't been added to in terms of a resource, they have been doing this as part of their day job and they've worked extremely hard because they really understand how important it is for children and young people to have education and to secure those educational placements.

So as of the 23 September, we had 356 school applications. That's 214 primary and 142 secondary applications and you'll see that 344 of those have been offered to date, and as I said, almost all within the 15 day deadline. So that's a real achievement for the teams and indeed hopefully for the children and I'm really pleased to hear a lot of the success stories from my colleagues in education.

Just to also touch on that there's translation activity that you can access on YouTube and we can make sure that you can find a link to that as well, in terms of being able to understand how to access education and indeed on enrolling children, etcetera and there's also additional funding where appropriate, where free school meals are available and indeed help and assistance around school uniform, if it's a specific uniform required. And also you'll see on the slide government choices, Childcare Choices where you can access the 33 hours for childcare moving forward. Okay, also just quickly on schools as well, I just wanted to mention that we have an interpreter service available via Microsoft Teams as well, so we obviously try really hard to ensure that parents and carers are able to connect really well with the schools so that that's an access and available to families should they want to use that going forward. And again, we can make sure that people are well sighted on how to access that too. We also, as you can see, as I say from the link, encourage and support the younger children to access early years  support. And indeed, please have a little look on the website to see how you can access that. But as I say, you can also hopefully see that link there too. 

Okay, so if I can just move on also to home to school transport, again in a county the size of Wiltshire, I think most of us are aware of some of the challenges that that might face in terms of being able to access school should you not live in the local village? Sorry, the school may not be in the local village or maybe not in walking distance, but as you can see from the information here, we've got a number of young people being able to access free, and or assisted transport and again, we are also encouraging people to connect with us if there's a challenge or a difficulty in that area as well, and we will do our very best to ensure that people are able to access that.

We are very mindful of the cost of transport, as you can see it costs around £180,000 per year, but we also recognise the need for ensuring that children access education and that is one of our number one priorities across Wiltshire, and again, just to reiterate where we find challenges as a service, we are working as one council and as partnerships to really try and overcome them as best as we possibly can.

Okay, so next one is just to touch on education for adults, and again, it's something we're really mindful of in terms of being able to support adults moving into Wiltshire, living in Wiltshire, and whether they make decisions  about staying in Wiltshire and indeed the UK and how best we can support individuals to feel part of our local community. And one of the main areas that we can do that is helping people communicate effectively and understand and be able to ask simple questions in shops, etc.. So we were again one of the first local authorities really to be able to run the ESOL programme, and as you can see, a number of Ukrainian individuals have attended that, and again, you can see on the back of that we've been able to support and encourage and enable 580 people from Ukraine to find employment. And indeed that is all sponsored and supported through partnership working and as I say, that's partnership externally and often we discuss that in multi-agency forums, but also partnership in internally across the council as well. A number of departments in Wiltshire Council have really stepped up to work together to really try and support individuals from Ukraine arriving and indeed families. And again, just to reiterate on, hopefully you can see on the slides that there is good strong links there, website links that you can access in order to find employment and indeed, we can also help link people into the ESOL courses as well.

Okay, so and just also community support. Now this area I just really wanted to highlight and I think Richard touched on it at the very beginning, but we are very mindful as a local authority that we've come out of a pandemic  which took two years, and we know that COVID again is on the rise and there's still a reliance on the voluntary and community sector partners to support some of the statutory partners coming through the recovery of the pandemic and we can't thank them enough for all the work and support that they did during that time.

So we really get that the context of this alongside the pandemic has really enabled us to have closer working relationships with our voluntary and community sector partners. And also we just wanted to use the opportunity to say how grateful we are because a lot of the work in the Ukraine area has really come organically from community activity and our local areas where people have come together to offer their support to individuals, and many of you on the call tonight will be part of those community hubs and as a council we really, really recognise that way of organically supporting individuals can actually be often more effective than big chunky organisations such as ourselves intervening, so we just wanted to take that opportunity to highlight the great work of the hubs of which we have, we know of at least 18 across the county, Richard and myself have met with Salisbury and I know Nicole, who will come on the call later to talk about housing, has also met with various hubs as well. So we really, you know, mindful of the activity that's happening in that space. And again, if there is any new groups being set up and you want to let us know about it, please do through our Homes for Ukraine website, sorry email address which is H4U@wiltshire.gov.uk (opens new window). And again, we can make sure with the information that all gets sent out to yourselves as well. Really for us it's important for us to know where these hubs are so we can try and connect with yourselves and vice versa.

What we recognise is there's lots of individual questions that people have around the next steps. We can't always answer them in a timely way, so what we want to do is be able to answer them as clearly as we possibly can  and we do that through various means, one: hopefully connecting with the hubs, two: our webinars and three: through, we do submit, many of you hopefully will have seen our sponsorship letter, newsletter that we make sure goes out on a regular basis with updates, etc, too. So communication in this is absolutely critical. So we just wanted to flag that, come to us, let us know you're existing and we will try and make sure that any new  information we receive can be shared widely with your hub partners. Thank you.

Okay, so if I can move on just to the next slide. So we actually undertook a survey of sponsors. So again, many of you on the call may be sponsors, so you may be familiar with the survey and the rationale behind this was really about trying to understand next steps for Wiltshire and how best we can support people across the county. So as you'll be aware, for those of you that have seen the sponsorship form, sorry, the survey form, what we really wanted to do was try and find out what the future might look like for you and your guests. And that would help us sort of think about how we best respond to the change in what is happening in the next 6 to 12  months. 

So we're really grateful for 267 sponsors who completed the survey, and that's a massive thank you to those individuals because it really will help us find new ways of supporting individuals, like I say, through the next period. What we know is obviously 15% have said that they would like to continue And the reason the 12 month period is important is you'll be aware from the start of the webinar and indeed from your own experiences that the £350 thank you payment currently ends at the 12 month period. So we're very mindful of that. And again, as I said earlier, we are happy to continue to raise that with our MPs because we do recognise people staying within the Homes for Ukraine scheme for as long as possible is beneficial. It enables us to ensure that individuals are safeguarded, children are in education and indeed it keeps, you know, us able to have good, strong communication with individuals, families and indeed the sponsors.

So we really do want people to stay within the Homes for Ukraine scheme for as long as they possibly can. You can also see that 35% have said they will continue to support up to 12 months. And again, I do recognise when this scheme started it was a minimum of six months was quoted by central government and as I say, the £350 thank you payment was up to 12 months. So again, we do recognise that people have, in good faith  connected with individuals in Ukraine and families in Ukraine with that six month marker in their mind, so having support up to that 12 month period, again, really benefits families, individuals in Wiltshire. So again, a massive thank you to those people that are willing to do that.

And then the 25%, 66 people who completed the survey have provided a variety of different responses on their intentions. 

For the other 25% of people that haven't responded, the survey is still open, so please do, please do get in touch and let us know your intentions. As I say, it does help us gives us a bit of a sense check of how many people are likely to need additional support going forward, what that support might look like. What we're also really interested in is kind of people wishing to leave Wiltshire, perhaps go to other family and friends that they know of as well. You know, we really want to have a rich picture of what is happening for our Ukrainian families and individuals that are living in Wiltshire.

Okay, thank you. Can we move on to the next slide, please?

So just before I pass over to Nicole, I just wanted to say that obviously we've touched on the two schemes today, though I'm sure you've got lots of questions which we hope to answer and obviously we really want to, you know, consider some of the responses may need some time for us to reflect on and give you good, strong answers back. But just to reassure you that we are kind of working on a number of areas that have been highlighted to us already, we do, as I say, liaise very closely with our local MPs on some of these issues and as I mentioned earlier, we have the fortnightly connected groups which include our regional colleagues, individuals from the Department for Levelling Up Housing and Communities, and indeed on occasion the Home Office as well. So where we have concerns, where we have challenges, we are feeding them back into the system for further kind of guidance, support and hopefully conversations around next steps. 

However, I'm extremely conscious that a number of people have already approached the council, sponsors and guests informing us that people are likely to move on, as that six month period has ended. And that's why we've invited Nicole today, who's our head of housing, to help go through some of their processes and indeed some of the challenges around sourcing accommodation in the next few months. 

So I'll just hand you over to Nicole. Thanks, Nicole.

Thank you, Claire. Good evening, everybody.

As Claire mentioned, I just want to say we're really grateful to all sponsors who have completed the survey, it really does help us understand people's intentions, so we really do encourage people to fill those in to help  inform us how to move things forward. 

The Refugee Resettlement and Migration Team is working alongside myself and my housing colleagues to monitor what may change over the next six months. We want to continue working with sponsors, so a relationship between the guest and the sponsor can be maintained as long as possible.

So what are the options for the future?

Alternative arrangements will need to be made if any sponsors are not able to extend the sponsorship beyond six months and these conversations are already starting to take place. Where we can, we will rematch with  another host who is already able to provide a home. If you know of a rematch, then please tell us by emailing us at the H4U@wiltshire.gov.uk (opens new window). This is obviously something that Claire has alluded to, we are encouraging people to try and stay and remain with their host for as long as possible. Should we be unable to rematch, the guest will potentially register as homeless and this will result in an increase of pressure on our housing team who will need to step in, often at short or with emergency notice.

We would ask all hosts to have the conversation about future plans as soon as possible, and ideally from the four months into your guests stay, we will continue to help sponsors support their guests, but if you are unsure, or need clarification or need to understand or have any questions, then again, please email us at H4U@wiltshire.gov.uk (opens new window).

I just want to mention, and I'm sure you're very aware that housing stock is limited and the housing register is increasing and like all local authorities, we are aware there are going to be significant pressures and issues going forward. The Government is looking closely at this and will continue to keep you updated by the sponsor newsletter, which goes out regularly. 

I'd like to thank you and pass you over to Ceri.

That's great. Thanks, Nicole, and thanks to all of our presenters. There's a lot of information there, but there is a lot happening and it's a very fast moving situation. So we want to give you as much information as possible.

We'll move to the Q&A session now.

We've answered a number of questions in the chat already, but we've received a lot of questions in advance of the meeting, which we will begin with.

So the first question is for you, Claire.

Can Ukraine guests actively look for work and get a national insurance number as there are plenty of vacancies around at the moment?

Thanks, Ceri. Yep. Short answer is yes, they can, that's not a problem and again, if they need assistance with that, please drop us an email at our Homes for Ukraine email address. So if we could just make sure that's available to everybody, but we can certainly look to support that.

Thanks, Claire. Now, the next question is for Nicole.

Our family would like to apply for social housing, can they do this?

Yeah, any Ukraine national has the right to make an application to join the council's housing register to express an interest in applying or bidding for our social housing. However, we are encouraging families to remain, as I say, with the host scheme for as long as possible. But if this is no longer an option, we would encourage looking to secure accommodation in the private sector and we will obviously support them at the same time in applying to join the housing register. New prospective housing applications can call and speak to a Housing Solutions Officer, and the number for that is 0300 456 0106 between working hours of 9-5. But we just want to mention for everybody that the demand for social housing is extremely high and the wait time to secure permanent accommodation could be months, which is why we are encouraging the other options in the first instance.

Thanks, Niccole.

And so the next question is for you again, Nicole. If my guest wants to live in social housing near family in a different area in Wiltshire, can they do this?

Yes, of course. So once an application has been assessed, the Ukraine family is eligible to bid on any suitable property that's advertised through our Homes4Wiltshire system. We use that system to advertise social housing across the Wiltshire area. However, what I would like to say is priority is given to applicants who have a confirmed local connection with a particular parish or town. So it is possible, but we do give priority to those with a local connection.

Thank you, Nicole, back to you again.

My Ukraine family is a large family, are they likely to get social housing that is large enough for them?

Yeah, large social housing is in extreme high demand and some families, unfortunately, have been waiting a very long time, in some cases years for very large five, six bedroom properties. We are not able to predict the length of time that someone may need to wait before they are allocated to social housing, which is why we are encouraging the alternative options, particularly around trying to secure accommodation in the private rented sector.

Thanks very much and you'll be pleased to know that you haven't got the next question. So Richard, can you advise if Wiltshire will offer guest Ukrainians looking to enter into rental accommodation support similar to Bristol by offering landlords rent guarantees?

We've looked at this and I think it's honestly really tricky. We certainly, we've got schemes around helping with deposits that people would be able to use and to lock into. But if we went down that route, we could  potentially be looking at 300 families that are needing support, needing to rent properties over, a slightly long-winded answer, but I think it's important, our rental market, the Bristol rental market, there's a lot more property to rent and rents are, they're not cheap, but there are bits of Bristol where it's cheaper. In Wiltshire, the rental market really is not good at the moment, there are very few properties to rent and they tend to be really expensive. So if we start doing that and we start putting money into that, we're likely to burn through a lot of the funding that we have available very quickly and then have exactly the same problem at the end of it.  
What we are looking to do is come up with ways and we're working around a couple of ideas. I'm not going to go into them yet because we're struggling with some issues around state aid, and legality, but we're trying to find some ways to provide that solution in a way that will give sustainable, more longer term accommodation. So yeah, we're looking at it. We don't think the Bristol scheme is ideal. It's probably the fail-safe, the kind of thing  that we fall back on if nothing else will work, but we're trying to come up with something that is more long-term and more sustainable, so hopefully that answers the question.

Thank you, Richard. Claire, the next questions for you.

What happens if a child wants to stay in Wiltshire while her family wish to return back to the Ukraine? Would the host still qualify for the £350 per month thank you payment? Is there any additional authorisation or
parental guardianship approval required? Would that be any financial assistance, i.e. continuation of free school meals and free school bus passes?

Thanks, Ceri. I mean, that is a very specific question and quite a technical question in some ways. I think it's really important to recognise the role of Children's Social Care. They would need to ensure that the child was actually assessed and Children's Social Care were notified if the child became unaccompanied whilst in the UK. So that would be the first call and again for advice around this, they can contact our Homes4Ukraine team
who can signpost and also we've got strong links in our social care teams, as you can imagine. But just in terms of the £350 thank you payment. Yes, the host would still receive that and indeed, the young person would still receive support in the school setting as well. So, for example, free school meals and if they needed to access free school busses, as I mentioned earlier, then they would. But the the element of unaccompanied child, it's really important that that is linked in to our Children's Social Care teams.

Thank you very much, Claire, and back to you for the next question. Although we hope the war will end soon, many Ukrainians are looking at the possibility of staying in the UK for up to three years allowed by their residence permits. Many are looking to live more independently and make a growing contribution to British society. In particular some wish to establish businesses and rent their own homes. Many have the experience, capacity and
in some cases the funds for such ventures, but need some support from English speakers who can help them navigate the administration. Is there any support available?

Yes there is. So there's a Swindon and Wiltshire Growth Hub and again we can make sure that the website for that is accessible to everybody on the call and people can look at that and that will support people. But also just to think about our own internal recruitment, so we have a jobs page on our website and we are also through the refugee migration team linking in with our HR colleagues to look at how we best connect through the caseworkers that are supporting people under the Homes4Ukraine scheme to sort of see what vacancies are available within the council as well because obviously we want to be a strong role model in this around  recruitment and retention of our staff as well and how best we can link the two together. So please have a look on the Swindon and Wiltshire Growth Hub, but also have a look on our website as well.

Brilliant, thanks Claire.

Sorry, Ceri, can I just add one point there, I think we need to be really careful about assuming what will happen in Ukraine, a few weeks ago it looked as if the Russian army was in disarray and falling back and everyone could go home by Christmas, and then we've got threats of Russia to use nuclear weapons, which you have to take seriously. You can't you can't take anything Putin says without being taking it seriously. So we, there are a huge number of unknowns here. We don't know if we will see more refugees coming in or if we will see people going home. We've got to work on the assumption that that we're going to be dealing with a long-term issue and that it's going to continue to be really complex. 

Yeah, absolutely. Thank you, Richard.

Claire, when we started sponsoring and met with Wiltshire Council, we were told we would have a named caseworker. Does this system exist?

It does. Yep, it does. So apologies. We do recognise that at the start that was very much our ambition. But what we found was very high demand at the very beginning and there were certain priorities that we wanted to make sure that we met, such as the DBS checks and accommodation checks. So we focused in on them, but now we have actually recruited and grown the team further as well, so that is something that the team are looking to pick up again. So again, please do contact us and we will try to make sure that you're aligned to an actual named caseworker moving forward.

Thank you very much.

Most hosts would like to work collaboratively with the council and their guest to move to a next stage beyond sponsorship, however, it appears the only option is either for sponsors or guests to do all the work or for sponsors to terminate the sponsorship and hand over their guests. Can we not have a constructive three-way approach which builds on the positivity of the initial sponsorship?

Claire, are you able to respond to that one?

Yeah, it is a challenge, I won't lie. You know, obviously we have the caseworkers in place. We're very conscious of breakdowns between sponsor and guest, which do take our priority and precedent. You know, we try really, really hard to support people to, you know, mediate, maintain that relationship wherever possible. We do have very small numbers actually at the moment where that's happened, but we have often put our energies very much in that space. We do also re-match, but again, it's very difficult because our rematching pool is quite limited as well. So whilst the numbers of people that expressed an interest in becoming a sponsor are high, not everybody has actually wished to do that in terms of progressing it as well. So we do recognise that it's quite difficult in terms of where we are at the moment, particularly with sponsors views around the six month period where they are now thinking that the guest should move on and we will work with people as best as we possibly can, as I say, particularly to re-match. But we have to remember Homes4Ukraine is a national scheme. 
It's come from central government. The guidance for Local Authorities is very much driven, as I say from that point, we do raise this as an issue, so there's various areas that, you know, we try to find ways and part of the  survey and connecting with the sponsors to understand what would enable and help people to stay within the Homes4Ukraine scheme for as long as possible. You know it's what we want to do,
we want to understand what it means for people who do the sponsoring so that we can maintain those relationships. Because at the moment, although we are exploring other options in the Council, it is true to say that  often if that relationship is completely broken down, or indeed that the sponsor feels that that six months period has ended and therefore, you know, they no longer wish for the guest to live with them. There is very limited options available in terms of housing and accommodation. So that is why I would urge people to stay within the Homes4Ukraine scheme for as long as possible. Give us notice if it looks like things are challenging or you've made a commitment between yourselves, the sponsor and guest, that this will end at the six months point. We can try and work with you and try and find a re-match, but it isn't guaranteed.
Thank you. Thanks, Claire.

So, Claire, the next two questions. Do we anticipate any changes to the £350 payment? Will it be extended beyond 12 months? And do we think it could be increased in line with cost of living and energy costs?

Thanks, Ceri and a really, really interesting question, a very valid one at the moment, isn't it? 

Both elements to that question. As I said earlier, the £350 thank you payment isn't something the council has, it's something we administer. And again, it's come from central government, it's their policy. What we have been doing because we recognise this quite early on and we have been lobbying our local MPs and Richard has obviously raised this a number of times in terms of at least asking. It's a bit like the family scheme, we've asked local MPs and colleagues in government as in Department of Levelling Up and indeed the Home Office, you know, can we consider how we might merge the two schemes. So a lot of activity is taking place just to encourage  government to have a look at the guidance, have a look at the policy to see how we can perhaps change the current situation. I don't know if Richard wanted to comment on that at all.

Yeah. Just to reiterate, we are putting forward any idea at the highest possible level. We do have a different government now. There is no longer a minister that we can get to directly, but we are going through, MPs. There's been some discussion, some suggestion that it may be extended. I just I can't tell you right now how that's going to pan out. Four weeks ago, I would have said, yes, it's likely, we're likely to see some movement. I don't know if we will now, or not.

Thanks, Richard. Claire, what financial advice is likely to be available for Ukraine families and how can they find out what support is available?

Thanks, Ceri. Yep. So again, you can contact caseworkers and we can try and advise, but fundamentally people who've come through the Homes4Ukraine scheme can access Universal Credit, that often will have a housing element to it as well should people move on. So it's important that they look at that. There's also a link to benefits calculator that I think we can share again when we release the further information going forward as well. 
So that can help people establish what benefits they're entitled to. But again, the criteria for people arriving in the country from Ukraine means that they can access Universal Credit. So I would urge them to have a look on the website and indeed check out what they are entitled to moving forward. 

Thank you very much.

Sorry Ceri, again, I just want to jump in on that. I think we also need to be cognisant of the cost of living crisis we're facing. The costs of very different to where they were six months ago, particularly on energy, and it's a really difficult situation for everyone. It's going to be particularly difficult if you have come from Ukraine without a great deal, a couple of suitcases, been staying in someone's house relatively sheltered from the impact of  those costs and then are looking at going into accommodation, even if it's through council housing or affordable housing or on a reduced rent, some of the costs are going to be really difficult. So it's a really important question to be asking. There isn't going to be a simple answer, talking to refugees some are already going to be able to sustain themselves, which is great, from what I can pick up from my discussions, most aren't, and there will be a need to resort to Universal Credit, which will be going up by the inflation rate from September when it's increased next year. But that's next year. This fair amount of time before that, [we're] going to have to put as much support in as we can all round and hopefully the hubs will be able to help there as well. Perhaps talk to Citizens Advice Bureau to work out the kind of processes that they would go through. Just do everything you can to help get that education starting now, because it's a real risk. The one thing we really don't want is families to go in to accommodation, find they can't afford it, end up in arrears, and then have immense difficulty getting housed anywhere because they've got a bad credit history. It's difficult enough for Ukrainians who don't have a credit history coming into the UK as it is. 

Great, thank you very much, Richard.

Claire, can we encourage Ukraine guests to have the COVID vaccine?

Thanks, Ceri and again an interesting question given some of the rises in COVID numbers recently, we can't force anyone to have the COVID vaccine, but we can provide information around the benefits of the vaccine, and indeed, we can encourage people to register to be vaccinated as well. So, again, in the in terms of how you do that, you can always contact us and we can make sure that we provide you with that information, but we couldn't force anyone who's arrived to have the COVID vaccine.

Thanks, Claire. Nicole, the next question is for you. I'm giving two months notice to find a new home for my guest after the six month placement has ended. What do I need to do?

Yeah, if two months notice has been given, it's really helpful because it gives us the opportunity to work with the family to look at alternative options. So if they haven't already made contact with us, we would ask them to contact the homeless@wiltshire.gov.uk (opens new window). We will then work with them. Firstly, we will look to find an alternative host, if that's not possible, we will look into the private rented sector to see if there's any opportunities there. If all else fails and we're not able to prevent homelessness, then we will look and assess them and if required we would place them into temporary accommodation. If we are able to secure a private let, we can assist them with the deposit and rent in advance to assist them in doing so.

That's great, thanks Nicole, and we also had a question earlier, Nicole. The website to register for housing is not easy. Would you be able to explain it? So I don't know if you can give an explanation or offer some advice.

Yeah, we did find that, we did a bit of research with our customers and they were finding the online application quite difficult, and we have recently changed our system. So unfortunately customers can no longer go on to our website and make a direct online application. Our preference now is that any tenant, resident or Ukraine family should make contact with a Housing Solutions case officer. We can then work with them to work out what their circumstances, better understand what their needs are, discuss all the options that might not be available because it may not just be around social housing. But obviously if we felt
that social housing was an option for them, then we would talk them through and provide them with a link to make that online application. I would suggest if anyone would want to speak to a housing caseworker, then the telephone number for them to call would be 0300 456 0106 and we can talk them through that process.

That's great. Thank you very much, Nicole. So, Richard, we have one question in advance around the armed forces. So what is the council doing to free up empty homes to increase housing stock? And have we worked with the armed forces to make some of the empty housing available? And then we've also had two this evening come in around whether there's the option to use military housing and who would make the decision on unoccupied MOD housing. So I don't know if you want to wrap all three of those into one.

Absolutely. Just for an update for those who aren't aware, there are at the moment, 1,350 empty MOD properties inside Wiltshire and they've been empty for quite some time. We first became aware of this when, when tenants were being evicted from non-military tenants, from other MOD properties. And I must admit I was appalled, I would describe this as a national scandal and many of the MPs agree with me. We've been approaching the MOD to do pretty much anything to get these back into use, to use them for Afghan refugees, now to use them for Ukrainian refugees. We've offered to look at purchasing them, putting them into our own housing stock and we are getting nowhere. We keep getting a response that they're all required for urgent operational needs. They're under repair. There have been a lot of responses, I'm sure, in isolation elements of those  responses make sense, but collectively I don't think they do because, I mean, there were houses in Devizes that were damaged in storm Eunice that had had no repairs done several months later. it really is not a good  situation. The decision makers here are the Defence Infrastructure Organisation, and they're planning to deal with with military housing across the UK. There are a lot more empty houses in other parts of the UK as well. Some of those have been offered up to assist with the Afghan scheme, but none in Wiltshire. So we've discussed it, I've discussed it with the relevant ministers. We've had three housing ministers in the time that I've been discussing it. I've raised it with all of them, not the newest one, but I will do that too. It is incredibly frustrating because we could use that, the MOD could offer them up on a years contract, or a six month contract to at the very least stagger the effect of this, and many of them are larger three bed properties, which we could, three or four bed properties which we could really use. So I am pushing this at every opportunity. Words fail me and no, I can't be polite in describing the way  that I think the MOD Defence Structure Organisation have handled it. I also want to be clear, this is not the Army. The Army are actually quite keen to help. This is the MOD defence structure, so it's London based civil servants who seem to have the decision. I assume ministers have the final say, but we've not been able to make any headway.

Thanks, Richard, that's great.

So we've got two more questions then and then we will wrap up. So Claire, I'll start with you. If a Ukraine guest has a job, is there any help with childcare?

Thanks, Ceri. It would depend on the circumstances and the person's income. If a person earns less than £152 per week, they will be potential be able to claim Universal Credit for childcare. This is for a child under the age of 17. So there is a lot more around this and indeed, it's probably best for the person because it would be individual to them to have a look on the Childcarechoices.gov.uk website so that they can actually understand what they may be entitled to, because I believe there's an online calculator that would be able to help with that.

That's great. Thanks very much, Clare. So finally the last question. Nicole just mentioned help with deposit and guarantor for private rented housing. Could you explain this further? Do people need to be homeless or can this be arranged before that point?

Yeah, of course. So the WiltsLet scheme is a form of prevention, so families would need to make contact with us in advance of being made homeless, so that we can work with them to try and help secure a private let. If we're able to find something that's suitable and affordable, then we will look to activate the WiltsLet scheme, which is basically looking at paying the deposit and rent in advance to help that family to move into that private rented property without having the need to go through the homelessness procedure.

Thanks, Nicole, that's great and thanks everyone for your questions this evening. I will pass over to Richard to say a final few words.

Thank you.

Thank you very much to everyone who's been attending. Thank you to the presenters. 

We're dealing with a, well, not to use the word complicated, complicated is an excuse. It's a really complex situation. Everyone's needs and requirements here are going to be, are going to be different and I would urge you  all, act early and make sure you look into this in detail, make use of the hubs, make use of the council services that have been described. For many of our guests, my assessment would be that the social housing, the housing register is going to be the only rational way forward, unless we can sort something else out and if we can, we will let you know as soon as we do and that is going to involve time. It's going to involve some issues around the potential need to provide temporary accommodation. We don't use hotels and B&Bs for homeless people, in terms of temporary accommodation we use houses. It's going to place a great strain on that at a time when the housing register is already under significant strain coming out of COVID. The numbers on the register have almost doubled since the COVID pandemic started and let's be blunt, if interest rates go up, that almost invariably results in more issues and more people coming onto the housing register.

So it is going to be a very tough few months ahead, which is why making sure you've got all the information and acting early is really important. If you look on our website under the Ukraine section, you'll get information, FAQs, you'll get the information there that you need and if you can't find it, get in touch and we'll make sure we pull it together. We'll be sharing a link to the webinar, so if you want to watch it again, catch notes, share it with those you couldn't attend, please do and I'd urge them to listen to the questions because I think much of the important information really is in the questions here.

Thank you to everyone for your continued support. Collectively, you are making a big difference to people's lives when they pretty much been through devastation. So thank you for all you're doing. We understand it isn't easy. We understand we've got to find solutions. We will do everything we can to help.

On behalf of Ceri, Claire, Nicole, myself, goodbye. I hope you enjoy the rest of your evening.

Have those conversations and make sure you're in touch with us and that you're getting all the support that we can provide. Thank you.

Any Ukraine national has the right to make an application to join the council's Housing Register to express an interest in social housing.  However, we are encouraging families to remain in the host scheme for as long as possible and if this is no longer an option, we would encourage looking to secure accommodation in the private sector as well as supporting them to apply to join the housing register. New prospective housing applicants can call and speak to a housing solutions officer on 0300 456 0106 between 0900 and 1700 hours. The demand for social housing is extremely high and the wait time to secure permanent accommodation could be months which is why we are encouraging the other options.

Once an application has been assessed, the Ukraine family is eligible to bid on any suitable property advertised through Homes4wiltshire which advertises social housing across Wiltshire.  Priority is however given to applicants with a confirmed local connection to a particular parish or town.

Large social housing is in very high demand and some families have been waiting years for large 5-6 bedroom properties.  We are not able to predict length of time someone may need to wait before they are allocated social housing which is why we are encouraging securement of a private let as a quicker option.

Wiltshire Council currently offers a 'Wilts let deposit' scheme in which we will pay the deposit and rent in advance when it is not affordable for the Ukraine family, to help them to secure a private let.  Due to not having wide availability of private rented properties in Wiltshire we are considering alternative options which are currently being scoped out. We are looking to appoint a dedicated worker who will work with sponsors and Ukraine families around the options available in the private rented sector, an advert is currently out for recruitment.

You should email H4U@wiltshire.gov.uk (opens new window) so the team can help the guest consider the options for the future. You should also provide a copy of your two months' notice to dutytorefer@wiltshire.gov.uk (opens new window). This is not for emergencies but to invoke our statutory homelessness duties.

We are looking at options for this. We have raised the issue of military housing stock with the Armed Forces on a number of occasions.

Caseworkers are contacting all sponsorships to offer support and information regarding moving on to alternative accommodation. Wiltshire Council look to support with rematching guests with new sponsors, however it needs to be noted that with a limited rematch pool, this isn't always possible. We are looking to appoint a dedicated worker who will work with sponsors and Ukraine families around the options available in the private rented sector Please contact H4U@wiltshire.gov.uk (opens new window) if you would like support with this.

We can confirm to a private landlord that the guest is part of the h4U scheme and our support workers will assist where possible.

Making a direct online application for housing is no longer possible. To help better understand individual circumstances and the options available to them we ask that in the first instance anyone interested in joining the register should first speak with a housing solutions officer.

The Local Housing Allowance is the figure used for those claiming housing costs through benefit and it is the maximum they are eligible to claim. Details can be found on https://lha-direct.voa.gov.uk (opens new window).

As long as the house they are sharing is of a suitable size then in agreement with the landlord they can rent together.

Social housing in most local authorities is in extremely high demand.  Each Local Authority will have an allocations policy which will specify who is and who isn't eligible to apply to join there housing register.  The eligibility criteria is different for each Local Authority so anyone wishing to move to a different area would need to contact the appropriate local authority for further information.

If they choose to go to another local authority area, it would depend on their allocation policy if they are eligible for social housing.

Most private landlords and social housing providers will apply the government bedroom standard when determining the appropriate size of any accommodation.  This will depend on the age and gender of the children as well as any particular support needs.

Hosts and guests can contact H4U@wiltshire.gov.uk (opens new window) with notice who can then liaise with housing colleagues, to prevent needing to use the homeless email directly if this is causing distress. We would appreciate as much notice as possible of the need for a move on accommodation - ideally two months or more.

This is a decision for the landlord of the property the families are wishing to rent.  This is not a decision that the local authority can influence.

Wiltshire Council currently offers a 'Wilts let deposit' scheme in which we could pay the deposit and rent in advance when it is not affordable for the Ukraine family, to help them to secure a private let when they are either homeless or threatened with homelessness.  The property would need to be assessed as being suitable and affordable

If an alternative sponsor is not found and they have not been able to secure accommodation in the private sector and the family have been asked to leave, we would ask that at the point they are provided with two months notice a copy is sent to dutytorefer@wiltshire.gov.uk (opens new window). This is not for emergencies but to invoke our statutory homelessness duties.

We have had a couple of expressions of interest from TEFL teachers (who are already supporting Informal ESOL groups via the Ukrainian Hubs) in a flexible type of role; however, all our teaching staff are on permanent contracts. The Wiltshire Talent Bank requires a 3 month employment contract which means that we haven't been able to utilise this to supplement our teaching timetable capacity for ad hoc sessions. Some other ACE services in local authorities do use casual staff to run courses, but this has a risk regarding quality of service.

For an app, Duolingo might be helpful.

We suggest these resources to our learners:

The resources on BBC Learning English are very good for ESOL BBC Learning English - BBC Learning English https://www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish/english/course/emw/unit-1/session-12 (opens new window)

British Council resources: Learn English Online | British Council https://www.britishcouncil.org/english (opens new window)

BBC https://www.bbc.co.uk/teach/skillswise (opens new window)

Plus Wiltshire College are running ESOL courses currently:

https://www.wiltshire.ac.uk/ (opens new window)

Explore this website for any local info too: https://wiltshiretogether.org.uk/campaign/supporting-wiltshires-refugees (opens new window)

Headway Student's site: https://elt.oup.com/student/headway/?cc=gb&selLanguage=en (opens new window)

We have a 10 session (25 hour) beginners ESOL course called Life in the UK. Learners can progress to our intermediate ESOL course (10 hours online) if their English is at a Entry 3/B1 level. Progression pathways are to the local college for their accredited ESOL programme which lasts a full academic year if they do both Speaking and Listening and Reading and Writing elements, or the WEA also offer accredited online ESOL courses, which are free or low cost.We have a 10 session (25 hour) beginners ESOL course called Life in the UK. Learners can progress to our intermediate ESOL course (10 hours online) if their English is at a Entry 3/B1 level. Progression pathways are to the local college for their accredited ESOL programme which lasts a full academic year if they do both Speaking and Listening and Reading and Writing elements, or the WEA also offer accredited online ESOL courses, which are free or low cost.

Schools are not funded to provide a teaching assistant in every lesson. Schools decide how best to use the available resource to support every student. If you are concerned, please contact the school directly and discuss these concerns. We can offer the school support via our Ethnic Minority Service.

There is help available but it will depend on their circumstances and income.

If a person earns less than £152 per week (£608 per month) they will potentially be able to claim the 'universal credit for childcare' This is available for any child under 17 years old.

The person can claim up to 85% of their eligible childcare costs back. This could be up to £646 per month for one child or £1,108 for two or more children.

To be eligible they will need to be working (or due to start work) and claiming universal credit. 

There is an online calculator which will show your options after a couple of basic questions and more information on the types of funding available and how to apply on https://www.childcarechoices.gov.uk/ (opens new window).

If you plan to host a Ukrainian refugee(s) in your main home, you will not lose any existing council tax discounts, Council tax reductions, disregards or exemptions (including single persons discount) for the duration of the refugee(s) stay. If a Ukrainian family is made liable for council tax they are able to make a claim for Council Tax Reduction.

Ideally we would like 2 months' notice to help with a planned and supportive move on.

We work closely with our health partners and we are aware dentistry is a challenge (for the wider population as a whole) also this website is useful https://www.nhs.uk/service-search/find-a-dentist (opens new window).

Yes, if your guests need support with this, please email H4U@wiltshire.gov.uk (opens new window) where a caseworker will contact you.

The £350 host payment could continue if the young person is considered an unaccompanied child. Requests for this would need to be assessed individually by children's social care. Contact H4U@wiltshire.gov.uk (opens new window) to discuss individual cases. As the young person would still be attending school they will still receive free school meals and if they are already accessing free school bus transport that will also stay in place.

There is support available through the Swindon and Wiltshire Growth Hub. Information is available on the website - Swindon & Wiltshire LEP Growth Hub: Information and support for Ukrainian nationals (opens new window)

Due to the extremely high support shown by the residents of Wiltshire, it was not logistically possible to have a named caseworker for each sponsorship arrangement. However, we have now reviewed this from feedback by hosts and we will now be implementing named caseworkers for each sponsorship arrangement, please email the team at H4U@wiltshire.gov.uk (opens new window).

This will be a government decision. The Department of Levelling Up Housing and Communities has only confirmed the £350 is available for the first 12 months of sponsorship.

Depending on individual circumstances they may be eligible for Universal credit - housing element as well as assistance with the deposit. You can use an independent, free and anonymous benefits calculator to check what you could be entitled to. GOV.UK: Benefits calculators (opens new window).

If anyone is sharing accommodation all members of the household circumstances and income would be taken into account.

Please advise the Homes for Ukraine team on H4U@wiltshire.gov.uk (opens new window) if you require your guests to leave, it would be really helpful if 2 months' notice could be given to allow time to consider alternative options.  The Homes for Ukraine team will call on those who have expressed an interest on the Government's system to see if they can find a sponsor who can provide a home

If there is an immediate need for temporary accommodation Wiltshire Housing Solutions team will look to source temporary accommodation whilst rematch possibilities are investigated if the family is.

It has to be their choice to have a covid vaccination. If they would like to be vaccinated, they can book one online or visit a walk-in site. Details will be placed in the chat.

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People fleeing war and persecution are often traumatised. They can often feel that their world has become unstable, unsafe and untrustworthy. It is important therefore that the relationship between guests and those supporting them is one that is empowering, trusting and supportive.

If you have a safeguarding concern regarding a guest, or you are concerned about their behaviour, please contact either Adult or Children's Services on the following number 0300 456 0100.

Further details are available through the  Child protection - Wiltshire Council (Children) and Safeguarding - Your care Your support Wiltshire (opens new window) (Adults)

Ukrainian guests needing support can also contact the Barnado's Ukrainian Support Helpline (opens new window) on 0800 148 8586 or ukrainiansupport@barnardos.org.uk (opens new window). Barnardo's provide advice, signposting, and therapeutic support for anyone seeking sanctuary in the UK from the conflict in Ukraine. 

There are also resources available in English, Ukraine and Russian on staying safe in the UK which are available online (opens new window). It has been developed by a coalition of anti-slavery and human rights groups for Ukrainian refugees in the UK, aimed at keeping them safe from trafficking and helping them adjust to their new home. The website provides a 'one-stop shop' of useful websites, helplines, and other information - anything from where to get basic travel and housing advice, to opening a bank account and understanding your rights as a worker.  Please have a look through and share with Ukrainian guests.

If you would like advice, or therapeutic support you can call the Barnado's Ukrainian Support Helpline (opens new window) on 0800 148 8586 or ukrainiansupport@barnardos.org.uk (opens new window). Barnardo's provides advice, signposting, and therapeutic support for anyone seeking sanctuary in the UK from the conflict in Ukraine. 

If you have any concerns or feel unsafe you can contact Wiltshire Police on 999 if it is an emergency or 101 if it is less urgent.

If you have any safety concerns and want to speak to Wiltshire Council, you can call 0300 456 0111 working hours or 0300 456 0100 out of hours.

Ask for Angela scheme: If you are in a pub and feel unsafe you can go to the person behind the bar and "Ask for Angela" This is a scheme that helps people who are on a date or who have met someone at a venue and feel unsafe get help from bar staff.  Many venues in Wiltshire participate in this scheme.

There are also resources now available in Ukraine and Russian regarding staying safe in the UK which is available here  - ВАШЕ БЕЗПЕЧНЕ ПЕРЕБУВАННЯ У ВЕЛИКОБРИТАНІЇ - Ukrainians Welcome (opens new window).

Modern slavery is where people are forced into carrying out work against their will for no or little pay.

Ukrainian refugees are at risk of the four main types of modern slavery as identified by the Home Office:

• Labour exploitation: where victims are forced to work in a highly exploitative situation in which they cannot freely leave for other employment or exercise choice.
• Criminal exploitation: where victims are exploited and coerced to commit a crime for someone else's gain. An example of criminal exploitation is the transportation and cultivation of drugs
• Sexual exploitation: where victims are coerced into sex work or sexually abusive situations. This includes child sexual exploitation.
• Domestic servitude:which typically involves victims working in a private family home where they are ill-treated, humiliated, subjected to unbearable conditions or working hours or made to work for little or no pay.

The Home Office has produced a Modern Slavery Awareness Booklet (opens new window), with information on how to report if this is happening and GOV.UK has more information on identifying & reporting modern slavery (opens new window).

You can also find further information on the Wiltshire Safeguard Partnership - Exploitation of adults (opens new window) website.

Please also see the workers' rights information which is also in Ukrainian Права працівників Workers' rights - Ukrainian (opens new window)

There is also a Modern Slavery Helpline which is a Confidential 24/7 helpline for help, advice and information: 08000 121 700

Report information and suspicions online (opens new window)

This is where people are transported to different areas of the country or world for the purpose of exploitation. 

If you are concerned that someone you know is involved in Human Trafficking, call the police on 999 if it's an emergency or 101 if it's not urgent.

Signs of human trafficking might be

• A lack of freedom
• Work for very little or no pay
• Seem to be in debt to someone
• Live in fear of someone or even the authorities
• Have signs of physical abuse, like cuts and bruises
• Move location regularly

Further information is available on Citizen's Advice website (opens new window) including how to spot it and where else you can go for support.