If your guest will be absent temporarily: Homes for Ukraine
Source: gov.uk (2025-01-31)

What to do if your guest will be temporarily absent from your accommodation.

We recognise that guests may need to be temporarily absent from their sponsor accommodation for various reasons. Before your guests’ departure, we encourage you to discuss arrangements and the length of absence. Where possible, guests should confirm their arrangements for their date of return with you before they travel, or should update you as soon as they can.

Before your guests’ departure, you might also want to discuss how they leave their room or accommodation, for example, you may wish to ask them to leave their belongings tidily and in a way that allows you to still use the room if you need to. You may also wish to have each other’s contact details so that they can communicate and keep you updated about their intended return.

If your guests are away for more than 4 consecutive weeks in a single period, or it has been 4 consecutive weeks and they have not returned, you will need to notify your local council and follow the guidance in the section below.

If your guest is away for less than 4 weeks, you do not need to notify your council. However, if your guest is absent on multiple occasions for fewer than 4 weeks, you should discuss the reasoning for this with your guest and engage with your local authority if you have any concerns.

If your guest is leaving permanently, you must notify your council that the sponsorship arrangement has ended. You should not wait until 4 weeks of absence has passed before notifying the council.

Failure to notify the council of a guest being away for more than 4 consecutive weeks or leaving permanently could result in the relevant council making further investigations to identify fraud and you may have to pay back money should it be found any fraud has occurred.

Guests absent from sponsor accommodation for a continuous period exceeding 4 weeks

If you are sponsoring multiple guests, you must only notify your council of their absence if all guests are absent for more than 4 consecutive weeks, or it has been 4 consecutive weeks and they have not returned.

Once you have notified the council of a guest’s absence your ‘thank you’ payments will be paused. You should notify the council when your guests return and your ‘thank you’ payments will be reinstated. When your payments restart, they will follow the usual monthly in arrears ‘thank you’ payment cycle.

It is your responsibility to update your council of a guest(s)’ absence of over 4 weeks.

If your guest is in receipt of benefits from Department for Work and Pensions, your guest should notify them of any absences from the UK.

Preparing for guest absences of longer than 4 weeks

You and your guests should discuss arrangements in advance of their departure. Conversations could cover:
- whether or not the sponsorship relationship would continue if the guests wished to return after 4 weeks’ absence
- whether the guest has flexibility to change their travel dates
- where to store the guests’ belongings, and how to return them if the guest(s) will not return to live there
If you decide you do not want to continue offering your guest accommodation, you should contact your council as soon as possible, following the same process as when a sponsorship is not working out (https://www.gov.uk/guidance/ending-your-hosting-arrangements-and-helping-your-guest-with-their-next-steps-homes-for-ukraine). Your council will end ‘thank you’ payments and get in touch with you to find out if you would be interested in a rematch and hosting a new guest.

You may also want to remind your guest that an absence of more than 4 consecutive weeks could affect their entitlement to any services they are currently receiving. It is therefore a good idea for your guest to contact other government departments that are providing these services before leaving for an extended period.

If your guest intends to leave their child

Where parents/legal guardians have applied through the Homes for Ukraine scheme they should travel and stay with their children. Once in the UK, guests should not leave their child in the care of a sponsor (or an accompanying adult relative) for a period of 28 days or more. Guests must also not leave their child in the care of a sponsor (or an accompanying relative) for shorter periods on a regular basis.

If exceptional circumstances mean that the parent(s)/legal guardians must leave their child in the care of a sponsor for a short period, guidance is clear that they should agree this with the sponsor and inform the council in advance so they can carry out additional sponsor suitability checks where appropriate.

If the child has been left with a sponsor, or another adult in the UK, further information can be found in the guidance for councils about unaccompanied children identified already living in the UK (https://www.gov.uk/guidance/homes-for-ukraine-guidance-for-councils-children-and-minors-applying-without-parents-or-legal-guardians).