ALMOST 50 hosts in Warrington have offered accommodation to Ukrainians, it has been confirmed.

The Government’s Homes for Ukraine scheme allows individuals or organisations to register to sponsor people fleeing the country following the invasion by Russia.

A report detailing the council’s response, associated expectations and implications in relation to the scheme came before the cabinet at its Town Hall meeting on Monday.

It was confirmed that, as of Monday morning, in relation to the sponsorship scheme, there are 48 hosts registered on the system offering accommodation to a total of 110 guests from Ukraine.

Council leader Cllr Russ Bowden highlighted that the cabinet has previously established a number of task groups, including a refugee task group which worked ‘really effectively’.

It brought agencies and partners across the town together to support Syrian and Afghan refugees.

Cllr Bowden said he thought ‘it was appropriate that we stand that task group up again’ in order to ensure any Ukrainian families coming to the town get the best possible welcome, support and advice they can.

He will chair the cross-party task group.

During the meeting, the cabinet was told that the Government system is being ‘developed and adapted’ – but that there are ‘a lot of flaws’ in the system.

Meanwhile, the council is finding that when its officers are initially contacting a sponsor, they are ‘frustrated that they are not hearing back’ from the Government once they have made their initial sponsorship offer.

The report to the cabinet said the priority for the council is to ensure guests arriving from Ukraine are ‘safeguarded appropriately’, welcomed into the community and provided with the best opportunities to integrate as quickly as possible to live independently and to live happy lives ‘given the significant trauma they will have undoubtedly experienced’.

It added that it is important to note that the Homes for Ukraine scheme is unlike refugee schemes, such as the Syrian or Afghanistan resettlement programmes, in that it is not a resettlement programme and relies on a sponsor agreeing to host a beneficiary, a guest, into their home for a minimum of six months.

The scheme operates on the basis of a sponsorship arrangement, a UK host, offering to provide accommodation to a beneficiary, a Ukrainian guest, and requires the sponsor/guest to be known to each other in some way in order to initiate the process of the completion of the forms, which are on the Government website.