Refugee website crashes as more than 122,000 Britons rush to take in Ukrainians fleeing war

James Cleverly says he is ‘glad website crashed’ as it shows ‘generosity of British people’

More than 122,000 individuals and organisations in the UK have now offered to provide a home for Ukrainian refugees, just a day after the website went live.

By 9am on Tuesday, 88,712 households had registered for the Homes for Ukraine scheme, which allows members of the public to host refugees for a minimum of six months in exchange for a monthly £350 payment.

Just hours later, Boris Johnson confirmed more than 100,000 people and organisations “have recorded their interest in supporting Ukrainians fleeing the war through the Homes for Ukraine scheme”.

“Thank you to everyone across the country who has stepped up to offer their help so far,” the prime minister wrote on Twitter.

By Tuesday evening, 122,305 people or organisations had come forward to offer help.

The website stopped working for a short while after the scheme opened on Monday afternoon due to the surge of interest, but foreign office minister James Cleverly said he was “glad the website crashed, because it is a reflection of the generosity of the British people”.

“The irony of this is I’m actually quite proud that the system struggled,” Mr Cleverly told LBC. “We built it quickly. We could have, yes... we could have spent more time stress-testing this website and delayed it a couple of days before launching.

“But, frankly, I’m glad we moved quickly on this and we’re moving quickly to ensure we’re able to help the Ukrainian refugees.”

The scheme has attracted criticism from refugee charities, who have said the fact households need to have the name of a refugee in order to take part risks “excluding vulnerable people seeking refuge”.

However, Mr Cleverly defended the new proposals on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme saying: “There are charities, faith groups, who are already in contact with people in Ukraine, people that need help and support.

“So, actually, rather than introduce a potentially slow and bureaucratic process, where people have already got connections – and there are a huge number of people and organisations that have already got connections with Ukrainians – rather than replicate, duplicate and slow that down, we want to be as agile and as quick as possible.

“That’s why we’re saying that, you know, we’ve got organisations which are already in contact with Ukrainians. We’ve now set up this site so British people can register their willingness to help and support.

“And, actually, what we’re looking to do is connect those both ends of that system together and do so in a way that’s quick and efficient.”

Asked whether he will be taking part in the scheme, he told LBC: “I have genuinely considered this. I’ve discussed this with my wife.

“I don’t know whether our personal circumstances will allow us to do this right at the moment. As you know, Nick, my wife, she’s going through medical treatment at the moment, but it’s absolutely something that I’m considering.”

More than three million people have now fled Ukraine in the first three weeks of Russian president Vladimir Putin’s invasion.

It comes amid a dire warning from Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky that other European nations could be targeted by Russia as he urged them to help his country.

The Independent has a proud history of campaigning for the rights of the most vulnerable, and we first ran our Refugees Welcome campaign during the war in Syria in 2015. Now, as we renew our campaign and launch this petition in the wake of the unfolding Ukrainian crisis, we are calling on the government to go further and faster to ensure help is delivered. To find out more about our Refugees Welcome campaign, click here. To sign the petition click here. If you would like to donate then please click here for our GoFundMe page.