Ukraine Sponsorship Scheme in Scotland: statistics - August 2024

Background

This publication summarises the latest Scotland-level data on people displaced by the war in Ukraine arriving through the UK ‘Ukraine Sponsorship Scheme’, which includes those sponsored by the Scottish Government (also known as the Scottish super sponsor) and individual sponsors. This report uses operational data from welcome accommodation facilities and local authorities across Scotland compiled by the welcome accommodation team within the Scottish Government. This data includes the number of displaced people from Ukraine that are in welcome accommodation and the number of rooms booked, occupied, and unoccupied in welcome accommodation.

The data will complement the information on the numbers of applications, visas and arrivals of displaced people from Ukraine to the UK where the sponsor location is Scotland and the other three UK nations, already regularly published by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC).

This report accompanies the Official Statistics in Development tables on the Ukraine Sponsorship Scheme in Scotland.

This statistical release has been designated as Official Statistics in Development which has not been assessed by the UK Statistics Authority.  Official Statistics in Development are official statistics that are newly developed or innovative, and are undergoing evaluation. 

This report provides data on welcome accommodation. It is not a full account of all displaced people from Ukraine. Displaced people with visas are free to enter the country and live and work where they want. Not everyone entering the UK through the Ukraine Sponsorship Scheme (including those sponsored by the Scottish Government) will need accommodation provided to them. They may make their own arrangements, including renting their own accommodation or staying with friends and family. Some arrivals may have also self-matched with a volunteer host, assisted by a charity or support network. Those arrivals may never be in contact with a welcome hub or local authority seeking accommodation. We do not collect data on this subset of displaced people from Ukraine.

Previous publications in this series have included a time-series of estimated guest numbers. These numbers were calculated on the assumption of 1.9 guests per room on average. We are now able to source actual guest counts from figures provided by the hotels, available since start of July 2024.  Due to the availability of this data and concerns that the average number of guests per room has decreased over time thus reducing the accuracy of our estimates, we have replaced the estimated guest numbers time series with a new time series beginning in July 2024. Guest numbers in this new time series are not comparable to the estimates provided in previous publications due to the changes in methodology so any comparisons over time should be made using rooms numbers only. To demonstrate the magnitude of differences between the new and old approach we have provided a comparison of the actual number of guests versus the number of guests which would have been estimated for the same date using the previous methodology.

This release is published quarterly. The current edition was delayed for a month from the expected release date of 25 July 2024 to allow appropriate time for quality assuring and including the new guest figures. The date of the next release will be pre-announced on the Scottish Government forthcoming publications release in due course.

Acknowledgements

We would like to recognise the extensive work undertaken by colleagues across all organisations involved in the Ukraine Sponsorship Scheme.