Extra payments for Derbyshire residents hosting Ukrainian families to cover rising energy bills

Households looking after Ukrainian families fleeing the war in their home nation are currently paid £500 a month to help with upkeep including heightened energy bills.

Now, from October through to March, households will be given £700 a month for looking after Ukrainian families, in light of the cost of living crisis, a Derbyshire County Council report details.

To date, more than 1,400 Ukrainian families have been hosted in Derbyshire, which the county council says is the highest in the region (the East Midlands) and one of the highest, per head of population, in the UK.

Most guest families are hosted in the High Peak and the Derbyshire Dales with new arrivals to be accepted until March 2024, the Government announced last December.

Local councils receive £10,500 for each Ukrainian guest arriving in the 2022/23 financial year, with the figure dropping to £5,900 per guest in the 2023/24 financial year.

This includes support for educational and social care needs for the families, along with help to connect to relevant benefit support and training.

A county council report details: “It is proposed to repeat the winter uplift and increase thank you payments, from October 2023 until March 2024, by £200 per month.

“This increase would be seen as an investment to save, in reducing the risk of homelessness and fulfilling the authority’s obligations, under the terms of the Homes for Ukraine scheme, in finding ways to sustain hosting arrangements.”

There are currently 320 Derbyshire households hosting Ukrainian families, with 20 households ending support each month and 60 new families joining Derbyshirefamilies each month.

The overall cost of the winter thank you payments would be £354,000, the county council says.

It says the payments were approved to “sustain ongoing hosting relationships and enable guests to live in supported placements as they work towards living independently and minimise the risk of guests becoming homeless and placing pressure on district and borough housing teams”.

The council also says the payment hike will “recognise the work done by Derbyshire’s hosts in providing accommodation to people during a time of crisis and acknowledge the extra costs generated during the winter months”.