Ukraine Refugee Hosts in UK Should Get Double Payment Amid Fears They Will Drop Out, Minister Warns

An earlier survey by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed that less than 25% of Britons who have sheltered Ukrainian arrivals under the government’s “Homes for Ukraine” refugee scheme agree to keep housing them for more than a year.

UK families hosting Ukrainian refugees should have their “thank you” payment doubled, Refugees Minister Lord Richard Harrington has told The Telegraph.

Amid fears that thousands of families will drop out of the scheme as the growing cost of living crisis squeezes their household budgets, the minister in charge of the "Homes for Ukraine" project was cited as saying:

"I've asked the Treasury for the second six months to increase the thank you payment from £350 to £700. People are under pressure. I can't say with hard evidence, but all my gut tells me that if they are in financial difficulty [the increased payment] will help a lot."

The refugees minister fears that around a quarter of the 25,000 households currently hosting refugees from Ukraine might pull out from the scheme after six months.

Surging ‘Costs’ of Hosting Refugees

A stream of refugees from Ukraine has been heading to EU countries, as well as the UK, since Moscow began its operation on February 24. Many are not necessarily fleeing areas of immediate military operations, as they hope to avail themselves of an opportunity to start a new life abroad. Furthermore, the Ukrainian government has called up all men between the ages of 18 and 60 for military service and has forbidden them from leaving the country. Some have resorted to cross-dressing to cross the border and escape the draft.

The "Homes for Ukraine" project was launched by the UK government in mid-March to help refugees from that country find free temporary accommodation.

Every migrant-hosting household, asked to commit to an initial six-month stay, is entitled to a monthly payment of 350 pounds ($428.7). £300 million were spent by the UK government during the first three months on funding local authorities to provide services for refugees and to finance the "thank you" payments.

Families that initially signed up to the project have been sent letters asking whether they would be able to continue beyond six months, however about 25% have said no, the outlet reported. Some households have warned they can no longer afford to house Ukrainians because of crippling energy bills, expected to soar by 80% in winter, skyrocketing inflation, and rising interest rates.

According to the peer, he is “optimistic” that the Treasury would agree to his request to double payments.

“Every single person who takes part in a sponsorship saves the state the cost of renting flats for people, so I think there’s a financial reason as well as a moral and humanitarian one,” he said.

According to Lord Harrington, the "thank you" payment is a “very important contributor to household expenses - electricity bills, gas bills.”

The Treasury is also being lobbied for more money to fund English language lessons for refugees. Should more households drop out of the scheme, as predicted, this would help the refugees get employment and access the rental market.

In response, a Treasury source said that there was “an institutional reticence to commit to public spending outside of fiscal events."

Budget Squeeze

This haggling with the Treasury comes as the cost of living crisis is increasingly making itself felt on UK households’ budgets.

On August 22, wholesale gas prices in Europe soared to their highest on record. The front-month gas price at the Dutch TTF hub - a European benchmark for natural gas trading - jumped 19% to reach 291.5 euros ($291.9) per megawatt hour.

UK inflation hit a new 40-year high of 10.1% in July, up from 9.4% in June. It is likely to peak at a near 50-year high of 18 percent next January triggered by the surge in energy costs, economists at Citigroup warned.

Furthermore, the new energy price cap will be hiked in October by regulator Ofgem, with a rise from the current £1,971 to around £3,600 per year anticipated. The average household energy bill is forecast to soar to more than £4,000 a year.

All of Europe has been suffering from high electricity costs, exacerbated by the reduced inflow of natural gas from Russia.

Food price inflation has been driven by growing oil, and by extension fuel, prices. The processes were largely caused by the decision of Western governments, including the UK, to impose self-harming sanctions against Russia over the special military operation in Ukraine.