Eligibility, safeguarding, Disclosure and Barring Service and accommodation checks: Homes for Ukraine
Source: gov.uk (2025-09-15)

Information about how to become a Homes for Ukraine sponsor, including checks the council will make, and eligibility criteria.

Eligibility

To meet the requirements to be approved as a sponsor you must:

1. Be over the age of 18.

2. Be based in the UK.

3. Be a British or Irish citizen or settled in the UK (which means having the right to live in the UK permanently) on the date of the guest’s visa application (this requirement does not apply to a parent or legal guardian who is intending to sponsor their child – see below).

4. Provide one of the following documents:
- UK or Irish passport or Irish passport card
- valid biometric residence permit or biometric residence card
- Home Office Travel Document
- share code and your date of birth, so we can conduct an online check of your identity and status – Check someone’s immigration status: use their share code (https://www.gov.uk/check-immigration-status)
- a photo driving licence issued by the UK, Ireland, or the Crown Dependencies along with a UK, Crown Dependency or Irish birth or adoption certificate with matching biographical details
5. Confirm you can and will provide accommodation for a period of at least 6 months in the UK.

6. Respond to council contact attempts promptly and keep your contact details up to date.

7. Engage with council checks and provide necessary information to them for the completion of safeguarding, accommodation and Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks.

Make sure that all adults in the sponsor household meet suitability requirements as set out in text below. British or Irish citizen sponsors are asked to provide a copy of the biodata page of their passport. Sponsors can use a recently expired passport if it has not been replaced.

British or Irish citizens who do not hold a valid UK or Irish passport can provide a UK or Irish birth certificate (if born before 1 January 1983), or a registration or naturalisation certificate alongside a photo document, such as:
- Proof of Age Standards Scheme (PASS) card
- National Entitlement Card (NEC)
- UK or Irish photo driving licence
- Irish passport card and/ or non-UK or Irish passport
If you have a UKVI account (https://www.gov.uk/guidance/using-your-uk-visas-and-immigration-account), you can use the online View and prove service (https://www.gov.uk/view-prove-immigration-status) to show your identity.

If you are a parent or legal guardian applying to sponsor your child only (who should be under 18 on the date of application under the Homes for Ukraine scheme), then you:
- Do not need to have settled status to sponsor your child, but you must hold permission under any of the Ukraine Schemes (or Leave Outside the Rules granted due to the conflict in Ukraine before the Ukraine Schemes were introduced).
- Must offer accommodation for the duration of your child’s visa.
- Must be able to provide evidence of your relationship with the child (birth/ adoption/ legal guardianship documents).
Security and criminal checks

To be approved as a sponsor on the scheme, the Home Office will do security and criminal checks on you, and on all adults aged 18 and over who will live in the same household as the guests when considering the visa application.

This includes checks on government databases and other third parties such as the Police National Computer, or its equivalent in Northern Ireland.

If you, or other adults who are required to undergo checks, do not meet the suitability requirements for approval as a sponsor, the visa application may be paused, and the guest will be offered other options. Central government will consider if any information received as a result of these checks could represent a risk to the applicant, especially if they are a child or vulnerable adult, when deciding if the sponsor is suitable.

Council checks

The council will complete a number of checks on the accommodation, living arrangements, along with safeguarding checks and DBS checks to determine your suitability as a sponsor.

The lead sponsor will need to ask the consent of all the adults in the household to provide their details on the application form for these checks.

Sponsors are not eligible for the monthly thank you payment until the council has completed their checks and are satisfied that the sponsor meets the requirements of the scheme. If you do not meet the suitability requirements, you will not receive this payment.

Your council will assess whether any of the information gathered through these checks impacts on your ability to act as a sponsor.

Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks

Your council will decide which type of DBS checks are required in line with government guidance. You will not be charged for these checks. It is at the discretion of councils to conduct enhanced DBS checks (including a check of the relevant barred list) on all sponsors and those aged 16 and over in their household. This is a legislative change that came into force on 18 November 2022.

Your council must request an enhanced DBS check (with a check of the relevant barred list) on adult Homes for Ukraine sponsors and those aged 16 years and over within their households. You will need an enhanced DBS check:

If you are applying to host a child who is not travelling with or joining their parents or legal guardian under the eligible minors scheme (https://www.gov.uk/guidance/homes-for-ukraine-guidance-for-councils-children-and-minors-applying-without-parents-or-legal-guardians#ending-of-sponsorship-arrangement). These enhanced DBS checks (with a check of the children’s barred list) should be carried out before their visa application can continue. There is separate guidance for sponsors of eligible minors (https://www.gov.uk/guidance/homes-for-ukraine-guidance-for-sponsors-children-and-minors-applying-without-parents-or-legal-guardians#sponsor-approval-process).

Even if there is a familial relationship between you, as the sponsor, and the eligible child (children aged under 18 who are here without their parents or legal guardian), an enhanced DBS check should still be requested for all members of your household who are aged 16 years and over. This includes a check of the children’s barred list.

If your guests are a family group which include children, an enhanced DBS check (including a check of the children’s barred list) will be necessary, for all those who are 16 years and over in the sponsor household who are not related to the guest.

If the council decides that an adult guest that you are not related to needs more support due to age, disability or illness (that you, or an individual aged 16 years and over within the household, intends to provide), then the council may ask for an enhanced DBS check (including a check of the adults’ barred list) for those specific members of the household that will be providing the additional support.

In all other circumstances, where you are accommodating guests in your own home, your council will use their discretion to decide if you and any other household members aged 16 years and over need to apply for an enhanced DBS check (with a check of the relevant barred list).

If your council decides than an enhanced DBS check is not needed, all members of the household who are aged 16 years and over will need to have a basic DBS check.

If you are a parent or legal guardian applying to sponsor your child, the council will not carry out DBS checks on you. If there is also a third party (aged over 16) living in the household, the council will check that the relevant DBS check is already in place in respect of that individual, and if not, bring this up to date.

DBS checks for people who have lived overseas

If you have recently lived abroad, councils might seek additional information on your suitability to become a sponsor beyond obtaining a DBS certificate, so that relevant events that occurred outside the UK can be considered.

These checks could include:
- A criminal record check. The Home Office publishes information on how to obtain a criminal record check for someone from overseas. See Countries Q to Z: applying for a criminal records check for someone from overseas (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/criminal-records-checks-for-overseas-applicants/countries-q-z).
- A reference from an employer confirming that they are not aware of any reason why you may be unsuitable as a sponsor.
- A Letter of Professional Standing from your professional regulating authority, if appropriate. Sponsors should Check which professions are regulated in the UK (https://www.gov.uk/guidance/check-which-professions-are-regulated-in-the-uk).
For Ukrainian nationals who are themselves seeking to become sponsors, local authorities could also choose to consider a Certificate of Conviction or No Conviction from the consular section of the Ukrainian Embassy in London. See Countries Q to Z: applying for a criminal records check for someone from overseas (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/criminal-records-checks-for-overseas-applicants/countries-q-z).

If you (or a member of the household) have a criminal conviction, caution, or warning, this may be identified through central government checks and the nature of the offence and the time since it happened will be considered.

Not all convictions, cautions or warnings will mean you are unsuitable to be a sponsor.

Post-arrival welfare check

Your council will also make at least one in-person visit once your guests have arrived to see if there are any welfare concerns or formal assessments that should be made.

This includes where you are a parent or legal guardian that has been approved to sponsor your child.

Your council will assess if any of the information gathered through these checks impacts on your ability to act as a sponsor.

Not meeting the requirements

Following council checks or central government security checks, you may be found to not meet the suitability requirements of a sponsor and the visa may be refused.

A sponsor may also be found not to meet the requirements for approval after a visa has been issued, for example after council welcome checks (this does not apply for sponsors of eligible children who must pass checks before the visa is issued). The guest from Ukraine will be told separately and offered help to find a new match. If the guest contacts you about this, you should encourage them to seek a new match. Should the guest travel to your address, you will not be eligible to receive the thank you payment as the arrangement will not be recognised under the Homes for Ukraine scheme.

You may not meet the criteria for approval if:
- The named individuals listed as sponsor and members of the sponsor’s household on the visa application are different to the adult hosting the guest.
- The sponsorship is linked to an obligation to work in exchange for accommodation.
- Accommodation is unsuitable to live in for 6 months. For example, it does not have kitchen space.
- Sponsors make multiple applications to sponsor individuals/households and your accommodation is unsuitable for housing the number of people the sponsor is planning to house.
- Sponsors make multiple applications to sponsor eligible minors.
- You fail to promptly respond to contact attempts by the council, despite reasonable attempts.
- You refuse to engage with the required council checks or provide necessary information.
- There is evidence that you have a history of sponsoring multiple guests who have never lived with you.
- You have behaved with hostility, aggression or with inappropriate communication with council staff.
- The council has received evidence or complaints of hostility, aggression or inappropriate communication from a previous guest.
If you are a parent or legal guardian intending to sponsor your child, and you are living in sponsored accommodation already, you should seek the permission of your sponsor if the child will be moving into their household.

Being approved as a sponsor for one applicant is not a guarantee that you will be approved as a sponsor for future applicants. This is because each application is considered separately and you may no longer meet the criteria for approval, for example, if your accommodation is unsuitable for housing additional people or if a future guest has different needs (for example a child, elderly person or someone with disabilities).