Ukraine: Yorkshire families describe how they plan to open their doors to refugees as 100,000 sign up

People signing up to give their spare rooms for the Homes For Ukraine scheme will not be matched with a refugee by the Government, but instead will be able to source a match themselves, either through a charity or local authority or through social media. It remained unclear yesterday what security checks would be required for would-be hosts.

The Department for Levelling Up, Communities and Housing said it would set out further detail in the coming days over whether those signing up will be subject to DBS checks, which show unspent convictions and conditional cautions and whether an applicant is barred from doing a role. The department has confirmed “eligibility checks” may be taken out in person on those who have signed up.

Support for the scheme –which has been compared to the Kinder Transport efforts to evacuate Jewish children into Britain ahead of the Second World War – was hailed as “fantastic” by Boris Johnson yesterday.

Andy Clarke, 30, who lives in Meanwood, Leeds, with his wife Rosie and 15-month-old son was among those who signed up to the scheme on Monday.

Mr Clarke, a public affairs professional, said: “Part of the reason that we did this was I just think the Government’s reaction to the refugees has been shameful.

“We said ‘let’s not sit and moan about it, let’s be part of the solution’. We put ourselves in their shoes and thought ‘what if we were these people?’

“They’ve already been through the horror of leaving their home and arriving in a country that you don’t know, and we feel like we’re very supportive people and want to be able to give someone a safe haven.”

Racheal Johnson, from Wakefield, was also among those who signed up on Monday.

Mrs Johnson, 42, head of strategy at a communications agency, said she and her husband were lucky to have the space to house refugees.

She said: “We decided when we saw the coverage of what Germany and Poland were doing to help refugees, and we weren’t hugely encouraged by our Government’s response. We don’t know anybody in Ukraine that we can sponsor, so we’re going to look at whether any local organisations and charities are doing a matching service.

“Very practically, we’re also looking at how we can make our room useful and accessible. We do have a spare room if we were to be used at short notice, and a separate outbuilding and we’re thinking about how we can make that suitable.

“It will definitely be a learning curve. Neither of us speak Ukrainian.”

Families who sign up will be able to claim up to £350 a month in costs, while councils will be given more than £10,000 per refugee according to Levelling Up secretary Michael Gove.