Why is Michael Gove’s homes for Ukraine scheme so slow?

Only a trickle of Ukrainians have been matched up with Britons’ spare rooms. Adam Forrest takes a closer look at the sluggish start to the sponsorship route

Levelling up secretary Michael Gove (PA)

Difficulties, delays and lack of detail. These are familiar complaints about the government’s handling of the Ukraine refugee crisis. Like the family visa scheme before it, the sponsorship route isn’t working out as planned.

Michael Gove is the cabinet minister overseeing the Homes for Ukraine scheme, which matches up British sponsors with those fleeing the Russian invasion. The levelling up secretary claimed on 13 March that we would see the first arrivals in “one week’s time”.

On 16 March the refugee minister Lord Harrington said we would see “thousands” of Ukrainians welcomed into the UK under the scheme in the week ahead. That week has been and gone. And only a trickle of refugees has been able to take up the offer of their British sponsors.

The first handful of successful matches emerged this weekend – including one between environment minister Victoria Prentis and 25-year-old Vika, who will stay at the Conservative MP’s constituency home.

Organisers at the Sanctuary Foundation, a charity helping coordinate efforts to match hosts and refugees, said they knew of seven Ukrainians who had arrived under the route. Around 150,000 Britons with spare rooms have registered to help. But the majority have not been able to take the next step in the “matching” process.

The government has been criticised for relying on individuals’ use of social media – a scenario described as “dating for refugees”. Some of those who have been able to connect with Ukrainian refugees online are growing frustrated over problems with the complex visa forms required.

Volunteer lawyers and charity workers, some of whom have gone to Poland and other neighbouring countries to help refugees with the process, have pointed to a series of problems. Refugees need to upload copies of documents in PDF format, for example, which means families fleeing with little more than shopping bags need access to a PDF converter.

One lawyer told The Independent the sponsorship scheme form had not even been translated into Ukrainian until Thursday, creating further delays. And even those who have matched up, and provided all the necessary documentation, are still waiting to hear whether the visa application is successful.

Devon couple Chris Tattersall, 63, and Anne, 62, said they have been communicating with a family stuck in Poland for two weeks. But no progress has been made. “Everything is taking so long … every hour somebody is sat there with a child and with a bag is like a week, a day is like a year and almost a month is like a lifetime,” said Mr Tattersall.

To complicate matters, sponsors need to have a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check from their local council before they can welcome a refugee, which can take up to 14 days.

Refugee campaigners have said it could be weeks before substantial numbers of people are granted safety in the UK under the scheme.

They are calling on the government to accredit leading charities to help match people to ease concerns about amateur Facebook pages, which could leave the process open to unnecessary setbacks and abuse.

But charities argue it would be far easier if the government dropped visa requirements and set up a humanitarian scheme allowing large numbers to come to the UK quickly. This would place responsibility on central government and local authorities to come up with temporary housing solutions.

Meanwhile, some Ukrainians are awaiting “phase two” of the sponsorship scheme, which will be opened up to community groups, charities and churches in the hope such organisations can better take on the cumbersome visa bureaucracy.

Grilled on the sluggish pace of the sponsorship scheme, Home Office minister Kit Malthouse admitted this weekend that “we can be quicker”. He offered yet another promise when he said, “I guarantee those numbers will accelerate in a week’s time.”

Mr Gove’s levelling up department said it will provide the first number on how many people have arrived through Homes for Ukraine next week. It looks almost certain to be very few.

Rather than offering more promises, Mr Gove may wish to take a step back and consider whether a visa system designed to control immigration in peacetime is appropriate for a time of war.