Ukrainian refugees ‘lack Home Office support’

Hosts of Ukrainian refugees say they are facing “endless bureaucracy” and “horrendous” support from the Home Office, with thousands stuck in limbo more than three years after Russia’s invasion of the country.

- HOLLY EVANS

For Juliet Grover, the daughter of a Jewish refugee who escaped the Nazis, the decision to become a host was personal. She signed up to the “Homes for Ukraine” scheme as soon as the war began in February 2022, firmly believing that providing refuge to those in need was important.

Yet immediately she says she was struck by the difficulties facing host families, with little to zero information and advice given by the UK government.

“The first people who came were a woman and her two young children who had applied for visas,” she told The Independent. “She was stuck in a refugee centre in Poland; it took us four months to get the visas sorted, it was horrendous.

“I was on the phone every day going around in circles, I went to see MPs and the government but we were completely stonewalled. We managed to get a visa sorted for her and her daughter, but her son's visa was not issued, which meant they couldn't travel over for months.”

In her desperation, she even drove to Sheffield from Wales to try and speak to someone at the Home Office, but was refused entry at the reception.

The mother Ms Grover helped, called Lena, was eventually able to come to the UK with her son and daughter, then aged four and five. Ms Grover spent hours registering them with schools, the GP, the local authorities and with national insurance.

“Thankfully I'm a housewife and I have the time to go through these things, but I didn't understand any of it. I'd never had to go to the council or sort right to work codes; you've got no chance of speaking to a single person if you ask for help.”