thread for those interested in refugee hosting/sponsorship

[EezyOozy]

I thought I would start a new thread about this as I have just heard on BBC news that they are opening up a web form tomorrow to express interest. Apparently families/households can claim £350 a month (I assume for increased expenses) and refugees will be eligible to claim or benefits and work. We have large a spare room but live rurally so whilst I will express interest I'm not sure we will be taken up on it.

I thought I would start a new thread for those who are interested and to follow the progress of the registration procedure/how this pans out in practice.

Posted here because it's the only place I know gets plenty traffic, I will probably be asking for this to be moved but don't know where to.

Obviously this won’t be true for everyone but I am finding having them here much, much easier than waiting for visas!

I would say super important not to be martyrish at this stage, and to keep doing the things you need and want to do. This is a marathon not a sprint and supporting them properly means supporting yourself so you have the emotional reserves you need to keep going. I have had a few moments where I've thought "oh maybe I shouldn't do x or y", but I have reminded myself that I'm not hosting a guest for a short stay but rather offering sanctuary to someone who could be here for a long time. I'm only going to be able to do that properly if I keep an eye on my own needs.

That’s very well put Laurel.

So we are driving down to Gatwick from the north to collect our guest a week on monday. Can't believe its finally all coming together. She's quite well travelled and speaks fluent English. I'm sure she'll take it all in her stride but I just hope she's not too disappointed with our town. We are very close to Manchester but the local town centre has sadly seen better days and is a shadow of its former self.

That’s great news. Best of luck.

If she’s well travelled and speaks fluent English she will have had the opportunity to research your town thoroughly thanks to the magic of the internet, so I don’t think you should worry too much- if it’s not good enough she could have found that out for herself!

We’ve spent all morning battling with the BRP applications. Something keeps going wrong and we can’t get back into the applications to book the appointments at the centre. We are exhausted now. Im hoping it’s a website problem and will fix itself if we give it some time and try again later.

still need to apply for a National Insurance number for the daughter. Mum already has one, so at least we only have one of those to tackle.

And I just cannot get through on the phone line to request the £200 welcome payment. Permanently engaged.

I’m feeling rather discouraged today - not helped by the fact that covid is making me feel super tired too.

How frustrating. Probably is just a website issue but that’s stressful when you are trying to get things done and dusted.
My guests are out today picking up BRPs from the post office (for people who went to the VAC) and visiting a Ukrainian Welcome Cafe which I hope was useful.
The only thing I have done on their behalf today is checking out a second preschool to give them a choice. There’s more variety in preschools than schools really and they will probably have a clear idea of what will suit their child best but first they really need to see what’s available.

Ukrainian welcome cafe sounds nice. I hope they enjoyed it. My guests are keen to meet other Ukrainians, but some of the other families who have come to the village have told their hosts they don’t want to meet other Ukrainians yet because they’re not ready to talk about the war or their trauma. Which is understandable.

My lady on the other hand is very sociable and is eager to make friends (although her daughter is less keen). They have been going dog walking with some of my friends and neighbours, which they are enjoying.

Does anyone know if getting the BRP generates a National Insurance Number? Or does that have to be a separate application?

They were given a swede at the Welcome Cafe.👀

From something I read BRP sometimes has a NI number on it. There was no information as to how often or under what circumstances.

Thanks@TheCountessofFitzdotterel , that's reassuring to hear. Hopefully this time next week then we'll have heard further about visa collection.

@VenusClapTrap a pp on here (I think pg 34 as I took screenshots, it was such a helpful post) said that applying for Universal Credit SHOULD trigger a National Insurance number being allocated. Don't know if that's also true for Child Benefit.

Discovered today that my employer is giving anyone hosting Ukrainians two extra days leave which can be used to settle them in. Perfect timing as they're arriving tomorrow so have booked myself a half day off on Monday 🙂

That’s so helpful! Well done your employer.

Thank you Countess and Shiloh. It’s all so murky and confusing! I guess we’ll just apply for the Nat Ins No in the normal way and if it comes through with the BRP then great. We’re not applying for Universal Credit because they have jobs waiting.

We’re still locked out of the BRP account. It says ‘incorrect password’, but when I then ask for a new password, it says new link emailed but no email arrives. <bangs head on wall>.

A swede?! 😮

Yes I think what happened was, a greengrocer donated a load of fruit and veg to a food bank that took place yesterday and there was some left over. Including a swede. Possibly many swedes.

I’m partial to the odd swede. A very underrated vegetable in my opinion.

My guests keep baking for me. I keep eating their cake out of a combination of politeness and greed mostly greed. 😳This encourages them to bake more, and so I eat more. I am going to be like a house side if I don’t find a way to stop them, but I don’t want to offend them!

Venus - if you're still having problems tomorrow, I think the paid helpline can help. I was trying to find their number today online (0300 790 6268) and I'm sure I read that they can help if you lose access to your application log in link. You might want to try the free helpline first I guess. The 0300 number is 69p per minute, and if they charge you for any part of a new minute you enter into - but only charged once you speak to a human, not when you're waiting to get through.

So it's been almost 3 weeks since we applied for visas. How do I chase? We have just been waiting for an email from the government, is that not how it happens?
Home visit is booked, we got email today re DBS checks.

Apparently the council can check the status of the visa application for you now. You must either get them to or else contact your mp and ask them to. Depends if you have a helpful MP. This way you can find out if it’s been put on hold due to —it missing— them losing a document.
Are you on Facebook? There’s an excellent group for people chasing visas.

FB group is called Taking Action Over The Homes For Ukraine Visa Delays.

There’s also the Ukrainian Visa Ranting Cesspit to relieve your feelings!

Now getting a hard time from local council about school places.

We have coming a 10 year old with August birthday & a 4 year old. Rural area, a few schools.

Mum wanted 10 year old to go into year 5 so both boys could be together when 4 year old starts reception in September, & to avoid change of school for 10 year old after just a couple of months.

Council won't allow this. So now have to apply for secondary as well.

Also requested as first choice primary a school outside catchment area but very easy & safe to get to as there is a cycle path most of the way.

He hasn't been offered a place at any of the 3 first choices, instead he has been offered a place at our catchment school - which is a 30-minute walk from our house through the middle of town. No safe cycle path.

I'm at my wits end. I don't know how hard to fight this. There are options to appeal etc but I don't know if that would be successful as catchment school has offered a place. How many battles are worth fighting in this situation?

I think you can appeal school admissions decisions if you can argue that the child's particular needs would be better meet by another school - eg SEN. Not sure how long it takes though - usually people who are appealing are doing so months before the new place is to be taken. Appealing now might mean no place for a while. Personally I think I'd take it - 30 minutes walk through town doesn't sound too awful, and if it's your catchment school I'd guess that would make it quite likely that the older child will get a place at the same secondary as others are going to, so if they make a few friends before the summer secondary may not be quite as daunting.

Hmm, tricky.

If it’s just a case of a fairly straightforward appeal and people with experience of this kind of thing think you have a chance of success (maybe start a thread in the schools topic) it’s worth a go but I wouldn’t get into a long battle when you don’t know how they will get on at the various schools and it might only be for a few months.

I don't think there's much point in appealing the choice of school now - it's only going to be until July anyway.

Our local secondary school is shit though. There's a much better one the next town along.

I've just been reading a long FB thread about bullying at our local one & FB is full of stories of kids egging houses on the estates here.

It's just so hard trying to explain all this to the Mum. And today they are leaving Kyiv driving to Poland, afraid to take the train because Russians have been bombing stations, but limited to only 10L of petrol per car, and still the bloody visas haven't come through which I don't understand as they all have international passports.

You can’t explain it to the mum. She doesn’t need this to worry about. It will be fine and if it’s not you can try for an in year move.