Councils flag safeguarding concerns linked to Homes for Ukraine scheme

A Freedom of Information request, sent to all 152 local authorities in England, asked if councils had alerted the Home Office to any potential safeguarding issues around listed sponsors, who may have connected with families with children or young adults through the scheme.

The results find that 16 per cent of councils, which responded to the request, reported at least one or more sponsors listed to have matched with refugees in their areas as posing a safeguarding risk. 

• The Nationality and Borders Bill will make it harder to fight child trafficking 

• Ukraine: Resources for youth workers to help children understand crisis

Norfolk County Council says it flagged 11 safeguarding risks to the Home Office, the highest number of any of the 76 responses received by CYP Now.

Overall, at least 36 alerts to potential safeguarding risks were made across the 76 local authorities.

A handful said they were unable to give a clear number - instead saying they had submitted “less than five” or “less than ten” -  in an attempt to protect the anonymity of individuals.

Meanwhile, 29 people on local authority sponsors lists were known by councils to have been flagged on the Police National Computer, which stores and shares criminal records information across the UK, as part of checks by Border Force and the Home Office, the FOI results show.

Latest data from the Department for Levelling up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) shows that as of 7 June, 40,085 Ukrainian refugees had arrived to live with sponsors in England under the scheme.

Department for Education statistics reveal that school-aged children account for almost a quarter of this group with 9,900 school places already secured.

The results of CYP Now’s FOI request have prompted calls from organisations supporting vulnerable families and refugees for a central matching system overseen by government to be implemented as part of the Homes for Ukraine scheme.

Currently, those wishing to host refugees can use existing relationships, charities, non-governmental organisations and even social media to match with refugees aged 18 and over with or without children under the scheme.

The lack of a central matching process “means that there is a high risk that traffickers and criminals are seeking to exploit and abuse under its cover,” warned Patricia Durr, chief executive of children’s rights organisation ECPAT UK.

“One of the main concerns has been that anyone in the UK or elsewhere can set up a matching site and be responsible for identifying hosts for refugees to pair with,” she said.

Read the full investigation including concerns over pressure on local authorities working to resettle refugees and the importance of youth work in supporting young people with their move to England in the July edition of CYP Now which is out tomorrow.

The Home Office and DLUHC have been contacted for comment.