Ukraine Sponsorship Scheme in Scotland: statistics - January 2023

Ukraine Sponsorship Scheme and longer term accommodation

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. 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 those displaced people from Ukraine being sponsored by the Scottish Government and individuals but also those arriving on Family Visa Scheme.

The Scottish Government are currently conducting a data reconciliation project to gather updates on the checking, matching and availability statuses of expressions of interest shared with local authorities. This record level information will allow us to more confidently calculate the values estimated from the local authority survey. An update on this project will be provided in due course. As a result of this exercise, we have reviewed the Local Authority Survey. The survey has been reduced and no longer includes questions on expressions of interest, private hosts, properties, property and disclosure checks.

Types of matches

There are different types of matches through which the displaced people from Ukraine can enter longer term accommodation arrangement.

National matching service matches (run by COSLA and the Scottish Government) - these are Super Sponsor Scheme matches that were facilitated through the national matching service, i.e. a local authority submitted a property to COSLA and they provided details for a displaced person from Ukraine that might be matched into that property/hosting family.

Local Matches - these are Super Sponsor Scheme matches that were facilitated locally in the local authority, not involving the COSLA/SG matching service. In principle, this would look like the local authority clearing a property and host family (they passed all relevant checks) and then the local authority directly linking them up and matching them to displaced person(s) from Ukraine. This type of matching tends to happen in local authorities with Welcome Hubs.

Self-matches / Informal matches - these matches will have been organised by the host and the displaced person from Ukraine independently of the local authority or COSLA/SG, for example over social media. Only the matches known to local authorities are reported. This does not reflect the whole picture on the Self-/Informal matches.

Individual Sponsor matches - these matches will have already been set up before the displaced person from Ukraine arrived in Scotland via Individual Sponsor Scheme.

Social/council housing is not a matching type. Displaced people from Ukraine (that arrived on any of the sponsorship or family visa schemes) can be allocated directly into social housing for many reasons. 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 through the national matching service or local matches. Additionally, 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.

Progress on matching displaced people from Ukraine into longer term accommodation

For displaced people from Ukraine arriving that are sponsored by the Scottish Government, matching services to find appropriate longer term accommodation are available through the national matching service (run jointly by COSLA and SG), local matching facilitated by local authority teams and informal matching. 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.

According to data reported by COSLA, around 420 cases (for example families) had been matched with a host by the national matching service and arrived at their longer term accommodation as at 17 January 2023. Through the Scottish Government local authority survey, local authorities reported that around 1,165 cases had been matched with a host locally, and around 405 cases had found an informal match by their own means after arriving in Scotland. Please note that this number may be an undercount due to lack of formal reporting on this type of match. Around 2,190 cases are still in progress of being matched by the national matching service. Please note, numbers of cases in progress previously reported by COSLA cannot be directly compared to the current data as of 17 January. A “new case” status has been added to the COSLA system. This has had an effect on the classification of cases and affected records have been excluded from the total.

Combining the outcomes from the different types of matches available for displaced people from Ukraine sponsored by the Scottish Government, it can be assumed that around 1,990 cases, covering around 3,995 individuals, have arrived at their longer term accommodation (Figure 2). A breakdown of completed matches by local authority can be found in the accompanying set of tables.

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. Cumulative figures reported by local authorities between 14 December 2022 and 17 January 2023 indicate that local authority teams are aware of at least 2,915 individuals (1,310 cases – e.g. families) arriving on visas sponsored by Individual Sponsor that have arrived at their longer term accommodation in Scotland (Figure 2). Please note that additional arrivals to their accommodation may have happened that local authorities are unaware of.

Local authority teams have reported that around 1,620 people (around 670 cases) have been allocated into social housing. 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.

Figure 2: Breakdown of completed matches for longer term accommodation for displaced people from Ukraine arriving on a Ukraine Sponsorship Scheme visa, by sponsor. Scottish Government data reported between 14 December 2022 and 17 January 2023, COSLA data as at 17 January.

Please note only those individuals arriving on visas sponsored by an Individual Sponsor that local authority teams are aware of are included. 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. 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.