Ukraine Sponsorship Scheme in Scotland: statistics - February 2023

Method and main sources

This report accompanies the experimental statistics tables on the Ukraine Sponsorship Scheme in Scotland. This statistical release has been designated as new experimental statistics which has not been assessed by the UK Statistics Authority. Experimental statistics are official statistics that are newly developed or innovative, and are undergoing evaluation. While checks have been completed before publication, this data is not subject to the full range of processes and quality assurance that would be required for Official Statistics. However the data is being released given high public interest. This is in line with guidance from the Office for Statistics Regulation on the production and use of experimental statistics. Work to improve data quality and data streams is ongoing and will be reflected in any future publications. The report is based on a number of sources, compiled into one report and an accompanying set of tables containing data not already published elsewhere.

For more information on Ukraine Sponsorship Scheme sponsor routes please see Ukraine Sponsorship Scheme in Scotland: statistics - January 2023.

Numbers of visa applications, visas issued and arrivals

The Department for Levelling up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) publish statistics on the numbers of visa applications, visas issued and arrivals to the UK where the sponsor location is Scotland on a weekly basis, and provide a local authority breakdown of sponsor location. The full data set and methodology can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/ukraine-sponsorship-scheme-visa-data-by-country-upper-and-lower-tier-local-authority. It is important to note that the number of arrivals into the UK is not necessarily reflective of the persons having arrived at the sponsors’ location. An individual, arriving on a visa sponsored by a Scottish sponsor, may arrive elsewhere in the UK and decide to remain there. There is a known undercount in the Northern Ireland ‘arrivals into the UK’ data. The undercount is due to people arriving into the Republic of Ireland and entering Northern Ireland via the Common Travel Area, where travel is not covered by the methods used to record entry to other parts of the UK. Ways to understand the scale of this undercount are being explored.

Please note, that from 22 November 2022, visa applications confirmed figures were amended to include applications which have since been withdrawn or refused, in order to align with Home Office reporting. In addition, from 22 November 2022, the analytical methodology to deduplicate the arrival figures at the local authority level was amended in order to align with Home Office Reporting. These methodology changes are also applicable to the demographics statistics published by DLUHC from 24 November 2022. Therefore, comparisons to previous publications before 24 November 2022 should not be made.

Not everyone entering the UK through the Ukraine Sponsorship Scheme (including those sponsored by the Scottish Government) will need accommodation provided to them. Additionally, it is important to note that one volunteer can host more than one displaced person (for example they could host a whole family). This might result in a larger number of arrivals sponsored by individuals than there are matches under the Individual Sponsorship Scheme. Therefore, arrival figures cannot be compared directly to the number of displaced people from Ukraine entering accommodation.

Figures per 100,000 population are calculated for each nation separately. Raw figures are sourced from DLUHC publication (Ukraine Sponsorship Scheme: Visa data by country, upper and lower tier local authority - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)), population rates for each country are sourced from Estimates of the population for the UK, England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland - Office for National Statistics (ons.gov.uk). The population figures underlying these graphs are based on the latest annual population estimates (mid-2021).

Please note that age and sex demographics are extracted from the visa application form, and will reflect the individual’s travel documentation. For visa applications and visa issued, age is reported as at 30 September, not the age of the person at the date the application was made. For arrivals data, age is reported as at the date of the individual’s first arrival to the UK.

Welcome accommodation

There are a range of welcome accommodation across Scotland from hotels to M/S Ambition and M/S Victoria. Should a displaced person from Ukraine require welcome accommodation it is in the majority of cases allocated via the core welcome hub in Edinburgh. When in welcome accommodation, matching discussions will take place to secure an offer of longer term accommodation. Our contracted partner who procures welcome accommodation on behalf of the Scottish Government (SG) provides an overview of the number of welcome accommodation rooms occupied by displaced people from Ukraine and the number of individuals residing on M/S Ambition and M/S Victoria.

Please note that the data are provisional management information from live operational systems and are subject to change. This data are provided both by our accommodation procurement partner and by direct contact with the facilities used for welcome accommodation. There may be delays in reporting from welcome accommodation teams and facilities used for welcome accommodation that affect the reliability and accuracy of the data. While data is available on the total number of occupied rooms in hotels and on M/S Ambition and M/S Victoria, accurate data on the number of people in each facility is only available from the passenger ships. To estimate the number of people in hotels, number we have assumed an average of 1.9 people per hotel room. This was based on partial data between August and September 2022 from the Edinburgh Welcome Hub on the number of displaced people entering welcome accommodation and the number of rooms they took up. The figure was calculated as an average of the number of people divided by the number of rooms they occupy.

In addition to already operational M/S Victoria in Leith, the M/S Ambassador Cruise liner in Glasgow became operational on 14 September. The contract for M/S Ambition ends on 31 March 2023. Any embarkations since 19 December 2022 will be new guests only with family already on board, or cabins used for contingency accommodation. This will affect the occupancy totals. Joint efforts to match guests into temporary or longer term accommodation by Scottish Government and Glasgow City Council Resettlement teams started on 5 January 2023 to meet the deadline for the end of the ship’s contract. Please note, figures for total disembarkations include both guests disembarking when matched to temporary or longer term accommodation and guests who have disembarked for other reasons.

Please note that in order to disclosure control the data, all figures have been rounded to the nearest 5.

Longer term accommodation

The Scottish Government (SG) collects summary statistics from local authorities in a survey on the progress of the work to resettle and support displaced people from Ukraine in Scotland. This survey is the source for data on matching displaced people from Ukraine into longer term accommodation through local or informal matching. This is matching that is facilitated by local authorities or by sponsors and guests themselves.

The Scottish Government local authority survey collects data on how many displaced people from Ukraine have been matched into and arrived at their longer term accommodation. There are different types of matches through which the displaced people from Ukraine can enter longer term accommodation arrangement. A completed match is one where the displaced people from Ukraine have arrived at their longer term accommodation in Scotland, where they are expected to be able to stay between six months and two years. For more information on the types of matches, please refer to the accompanying tables. The types of matches the survey collect information on include those through the national matching service (run by COSLA and the Scottish Government), local matches facilitated by the local authority, informal matches facilitated by hosts and guests themselves, and matches resulting from individual sponsors. It also asks for the total number of people placed directly into social housing, but this figure may include not only visa holders sponsored by the Scottish Government and individuals, but also those arriving on the Family Visa Scheme.

Displaced people from Ukraine arriving in Scotland on a visa sponsored by an Individual Sponsor have a named individual sponsor when applying for the visa, and generally do not need to go through any matching scheme. It is assumed that all individually sponsored displaced people from Ukraine will travel directly to their longer term accommodation in Scotland. Likewise, volunteer hosts who expressed an interest in hosting someone arriving on a visa sponsored by individuals do not need to be in touch with local authority teams in order to host (they are already "matched" prior to their guest arriving), as a result, local authority survey numbers are likely to be an undercount as additional arrivals to their accommodation may have happened that local authorities are unaware of. Additionally, this will differ to the data on the number of displaced people from Ukraine that had arrived in the UK on a visa sponsored by named and known Individual Sponsors.

Not everyone entering the UK through the Ukraine Sponsorship Scheme (including those sponsored by the Scottish Government) will need accommodation provided to them. Matching data will only represent those that require these services in Scotland. It is also important to note that one volunteer can host more than one displaced person (for example they could host a whole family). This might result in a larger number of arrivals sponsored by individuals than there are matches under the Individual Sponsor Scheme.

Displaced people from Ukraine may be placed into social housing if Registered Social Landlords or the relevant council has offered up social or council housing for matching. People arriving on visa schemes other than sponsored by the Scottish Government or individuals (e.g. Family Visa) may be placed into social or council housing if requiring temporary homelessness accommodation. As such, some people (and cases) allocated into social housing will be included in total figures above under the respective matching type.

The Convention for Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA) provides operational data on the progress of matching into longer term accommodation within the national matching service run jointly by COSLA and the Scottish Government (SG).

The report summarises these statistics from April 2022 up to February 2023, with specific dates being included throughout the report.

Please note that in order to disclosure control the data, all figures have been rounded to the nearest 5. Data for cumulative measures may slightly decrease between returns as it is revised or corrected in retrospect.

Additionally, the data represents a snapshot of information available on the reporting date and cannot be compared to previously published data as a comparison over time.