Refugee website crashes as Britons rush to take in Ukrainians

Tens of thousands of Britons offered yesterday to open their homes to Ukrainian refugees after ministers opened an online registration site that immediately crashed.

About 44,000 offers were received within six hours from families with spare rooms and organisations providing places under the Homes for Ukraine scheme.

Refugees will be able to move in with British families from this weekend, regardless of whether they have ties to the UK, and host households will get tax-free payments of £350 a month.

Households offering their homes will face only “light-touch” vetting to maximise the number of refugees who arrive. However, there were concerns that the scheme could prove difficult to access as the families or individual refugees will have to be named by hosts to qualify.

Britain’s new refugee scheme was launched by Michael Gove, the communities secretary, in the Commons after days of criticism over a slow and bureaucratic response to the crisis. Gove told MPs: “I have just had it up to here with people trying to suggest that this country is not generous.”

Only 4,000 Ukrainians have been given visas under a scheme for those with family in the UK. Nearly three million Ukrainians have fled the country.

Households who sign up to the new scheme must make a commitment of at least six months, but it is not clear what will happen after that because all refugees who come under the scheme will be allowed to stay for up to three years.

Ministers said that the government and local authorities would step in, but they are already struggling to house 37,000 asylum seekers and Afghan refugees now living in hotels at a cost of £4.7 million per day.

Gove said that full DBS (Disclosure and Barring Service) checks would not be needed for people signing up to the Homes for Ukraine scheme.

Individuals and organisations who register to sponsor refugees will be checked against the Police National Computer to protect refugees from exploitative individuals taking advantage of the scheme. There was confusion after Sajid Javid, the health secretary, told Times Radio earlier yesterday that hosts would have “DBS-style checks”.

MPs warned that the lack of a full DBS check on individuals raised serious safeguarding concerns, given the government was suggesting that British households could use social media to match with Ukrainians.

Hosts must match up with a Ukrainian refugee or family themselves before submitting a joint visa application with the named individuals. Although hosts could register their interest yesterday, visa applications for the scheme do not open until Friday.

Gove said that local authorities, which will be given £10,500 per refugee resettled in their area, would be able to spot signs of abuse. Sponsors would be visited by safeguarding professionals from local government, but only after the Ukrainian refugees had moved in with their UK sponsor.

Government sources said that teachers, doctors and nurses would act as an “additional check” for problems such as domestic abuse.

Announcing the scheme, Gove told MPs: “We do not believe that we need to have full DBS checks to ensure that someone is an appropriate sponsor. Very light-touch criminal checks will often be sufficient, and then local authorities can be supported to ensure that people are safe.”

Grant Shapps, the transport secretary, announced yesterday that he would offer to accommodate a Ukrainian refugee in his home. Gove’s hopes of housing a refugee have been complicated because he lives in Carlton Gardens, a grace-and-favour residence, since separating from his wife, Sarah Vine, last year. Security concerns are preventing him from hosting refugees at the apartment. It is normally the foreign secretary’s official London residence but Liz Truss offered it to him after he moved out of his family home.

Aides said that he is more likely to use his constituency home in Surrey Heath to accommodate refugees.

Priti Patel is unlikely to host refugees because of security concerns over living with a home secretary, while Downing Street indicated that the prime minister would not be taking any Ukrainian refugees in.

Boris Johnson’s official spokesman said that it was up to individual ministers whether they chose to give accommodation to a refugee. “There are specific challenges around security on housing people in No 10,” he said. “Obviously it will come down to individual circumstances. This is a significant commitment.”

Javid said that it home would be difficult to “offer the time” to host Ukrainian refugees in his. He said it was important that those who offered to become a host could spend time with resettled families.

Sadiq Khan, the mayor of London, said that he would not be taking in a refugee because of “space and other security issues” but he urged the government to use mansions belonging to sanctioned Russian oligarchs to house Ukrainians.

Separately, the government announced emergency measures yesterday to allow all Ukrainian refugees to bring their pets into the UK. The government will cover the cost of any quarantine required.

Animal welfare groups had warned that cats and dogs travelling with refugees might have to be euthanised unless the UK relaxed rules on pet travel.

A spokesman for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said: “We have put in place a new streamlined process for people bringing their pets from Ukraine. The Animal and Plant Health Agency will provide quick approvals and relevant quarantine arrangements, for which we will cover the costs.”

An RSPCA spokeswoman said: “We’re pleased that for refugees coming to the UK they won’t have the added heartbreak of leaving their pets behind.”