Super Sponsor Scheme and Homes for Ukraine: guidance for hosts

Checks and safeguarding

There are important checks which will be carried out before you are matched with guests.

To host someone through any scheme, you will need to undergo:

• an enhanced disclosure check (often referred to as enhanced DBS)
• local authority system checks (which include a social work and local authority record check for child and adult protection risk or concerns)
• a property check

Local authorities will carry out these checks before your accommodation is put forward for matching as part of the Scottish super sponsor scheme. The checks will also need to be completed before the arrival of any guests if you sponsored their visa independently through the Homes for Ukraine scheme and before a host can be deemed eligible for thank you payments. The reason for these checks is to establish that there are no known safeguarding or accommodation issues.

There may be times where people displaced from Ukraine have signed up for the Scottish Government's super sponsor scheme and then go on to self-match with a Scottish host via the internet or a charity. This will still require the host to have robust checks carried out by local authorities and Police Scotland.

In a host placement that was arranged privately, relevant property and/or disclosure checks may not yet be complete. If you are a host that has not had appropriate checks completed or if you become aware that someone has matched privately with a displaced person who has a super sponsor visa, please contact your local authority so that all safeguarding checks can be carried out as a high priority.

Further information about sponsorship in these circumstances can be found within our public protection guidance.

Enhanced disclosure checks and safeguarding

Enhanced disclosure checks are to make sure there are no known safeguarding risks, to ensure the safety of displaced people arriving from Ukraine. This process will be completed with local authority partners. Disclosure Scotland will consider these applications as a priority and there will be no fees. The local authority will contact you with the necessary documents to progress these checks.

All adults over the age of 16 years living in the host household, including students returning to their permanent residence in between terms, must agree to an enhanced Disclosure Scotland check including an identification check. This applies to both the super sponsor and Homes for Ukraine schemes.

Individuals offering accommodation via a self-contained property, such as a second home, must also agree to an enhanced Disclosure Scotland check, including an identification check.

If you have already registered under the Homes for Ukraine scheme, you may have been subject to a different level of disclosure check, but will need to agree to an enhanced Disclosure Scotland check if this has not been done.

An enhanced disclosure includes:

• unspent convictions
• relevant spent convictions
• unspent cautions
• a statement about whether the applicant is included in the children's or adult's lists, or being considered for inclusion in the list(s)
• other relevant information held by the police

• details of prescribed court orders and sex offender notification requirements

If disclosure/safeguarding checks are seen as unsatisfactory you will not be considered for matching.

Further details on Disclosure Scotland checks can be found in the local authority guidance.

Property checks and home visits

It is a requirement for all hosts to agree to a home visit by a local authority official or contractor in order to check the suitability of their accommodation before a guest is placed with that host.

The visits will confirm the accommodation provided is of an approved standard and meets the minimum requirements to live in. They will also ensure there are no safeguarding issues, such as overcrowding.

Before your property is used to host under the scheme, local authorities must ensure that:

• the safety of gas and electrical supplies and appliances are checked
• there is enough heating (space and water heating)
• sanitary facilities are in a reasonable state of repair and proper working order
• there are washing and cooking facilities
• the property is wind and watertight – which means no rising or penetrating damp
• there are interlinked alarms (smoke, heat and carbon monoxide). Where there are no interlinked alarms due to supply issues, ensure the property has a single point of detection and that there is a plan for when interlinked alarms will be fully installed

If local authority checks or home visits result in accommodation not meeting the criteria covered in the quality assurance housing checklist within the Homes for Ukraine Guidance for Local Authorities then you will be told what corrective action may be needed. As a host you will not be expected or forced to make or allow these improvements. However, if you choose not to do so, the property will not proceed to the matching stage.

It may be necessary for your local authority to prioritise the order in which they perform home visits in order to match guests with appropriate accommodation. As a result, it may take longer to visit your accommodation.

More information about home visits, including what is being checked, can be found at: Super Sponsor Scheme and Homes for Ukraine guidance for local authorities, which includes a version of the quality assurance housing checklist.

If there appears to be a delay in progressing your application after your home has been checked, you should correspond directly with your local authority.

Unaccompanied children and young people

Further safeguards are in place for children and young people who are staying in hosted accommodation without their parent or legal guardian. More information is available in the public protection guidance.

Identity checks for displaced people from Ukraine

The Home Office carries out identity and security checks on displaced people using any of the visa routes.

You can find more information at the UK Government’s Apply for a visa under the Homes for Ukraine Sponsorship Scheme.

Report a safeguarding issue

If you, or anyone you know, has any concerns about potential abuses of the scheme or people involved in the scheme, you should report them at the earliest opportunity to the relevant local authority.

If you are concerned that a crime has been committed, or if there is a threat of a crime being committed, this should be reported immediately to Police Scotland.

Any child or adult at risk of harm, regardless of their resettlement scheme or route of entry, should be referred immediately to the local social work department and/or Police Scotland.

Additional information relating to  protection of people of all ages arriving from Ukraine can be found in our public protection guidance.

Contact

Email: ceu@gov.scot

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• Ukraine
• Super Sponsor Scheme and Homes for Ukraine: guidance for local authorities