Purpose

To seek approval to utilise Homes for Ukraine
(HFU) Scheme grant funding received by the County Council from the
Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) to
continue to top-up host payments from April 2024 for one year, thus
encouraging the continuation of hosting arrangements.

Decision

In coming to this
decision I have given due and full regard to the requirements of
the public sector equality duty contained in section 149 of the
Equality Act 2010 (“the Act”) by reference to the law
itself and also the relevant Equality Impact Assessment, which was
prepared in accordance with the requirements of the Act.
 
Having fully
considered all the available information, I have decided to reject
the alternative options and take the recommended decision
to:
 
Approve the
allocation of up to £483,150 from the HFU Scheme Section 31
Grant for the purpose of continuing to top-up host payments to
£600 per month to all hosts participating in the Homes for
Ukraine Scheme from 1st April 2024 until 31st March 2025, as
outlined in Appendices 2 and 3 of this report. The allocation is
based on projected figures, and therefore subject to change, but
should not exceed the upper limit of £483,150. Such funding
will be authorised by the County Council for each host and
administered retrospectively by the relevant District
Councils.
 
 The HFU Scheme Section 31 Grant from the Department
for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities comprises £10,500
per guest tariff funding for guests arriving in 2022 and
£5,900 for each guest arrival from 1st January 2023. This
proposed allocation is in addition to the allocations previously
agreed by Cabinet/Cabinet Members and detailed in the Background
Documents
 
For the reasons set
out in the report.