It’s been confirmed this morning that over 89,000 people in the UK have signed-up to open their homes to refugees fleeing war in Ukraine.
The website for the dedicated Homes for Ukraine scheme was officially launched yesterday afternoon, and has reportedly crashed on several occasions as an impressive 1,500 people registered to offer support within just the first hour of it going live, according to Levelling Up, Housing and Communities Secretary Michael Gove.
In an address to the House of Commons this morning, Mr Gove said that the UK had a history of “supporting the most vulnerable during their darkest hours”.
He expressed his hope that many Brits would “open their homes” and accept Ukrainian refugees, adding that this act would help those fleeing persecution to find “peace, healing and the prospect of a brighter future.
Mr Gove said the new scheme would be based on “the enormous goodwill and generosity of the British public”, and said there’d be “no limit” to how many Ukrainians could enter the UK under the scheme.
“This is a huge humanitarian crisis, and we are urging the British public to come forward and help where they can,” Mr Gove said.
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As part of the visa sponsorship scheme, any Ukrainian national or immediate family member of a Ukrainian national, if they were resident in Ukraine prior to 1 January this year, is eligible to enter the country, and they do not need to have existing family ties to the UK.
📣NEW – UK individuals, charities, community groups & businesses can now record their interest in supporting Ukrainians fleeing the war through our new Homes for Ukraine scheme.
— Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Gov (@mhclg) March 14, 2022
How does the scheme work?
The scheme offers a route to those who want to come to the UK and have someone here willing to provide them with a home, and will enable individuals, charities, community groups, and businesses to volunteer accommodation and provide a route to safety for Ukrainians, and their immediate family members who have been forced to escape their homeland.
Sponsors should provide accommodation for as long as they are able, but the government has a minimum expectation of six months.
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Under the first phase of the scheme, offers must be made to a specific person or people, and charities and other organisations might be able to help those offering accommodation to make contact with a named person.
It’s been confirmed that checks will be undertaken on individuals offering to host refugees, but Mr Gove said full DBS checks would not be needed.
Local councils may also check that the accommodation being offered is appropriate.
Is there any financial support?
As confirmed last week ahead of the launch of the scheme yesterday, those who make an offer of accommodation to refugees will be entitled to an optional “thank you” tax-free payment of £350 per month, and this will not affect benefit entitlement or council tax status, such as single occupancy discount.
Those offering to house refugees will not be expected to cover the costs of meals, food and living expenses for Ukrainians, but they can do if they wish to do so.
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Local councils will also be offered extra funding to give wider support.
Refugees from Ukraine under the scheme will be able to apply for benefits, take up employment, and will be granted leave to remain in the UK for three years so they have the access public services, such as the NHS and schooling.
89,000 people in the UK have signed-up to open their homes to refugees fleeing war in Ukraine / Credit: DEC (via Twitter)
How do I sign up?
You can sign up to offer accommodation to refugees fleeing Ukraine on the Homes for Ukraine website here.
If you have a named person who you wish to sponsor, then you should get in contact with them directly and prepare to fill in a visa application – which will go live on Friday 18 March – with all their details and yours, but if you don’t know anyone and still want to offer accommodation, the government suggests getting in touch with charities, faith groups, or local community organisations who are starting to make connections between individuals.
You can record your interest as an individual or as an organisation, and the government says all those who register will be “kept updated” once they sign-up.
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Additionally, the British public are also being urged to make donations to the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC), which has been set up in response to the crisis in Ukraine, with every pound donated by the British public set to be matched by the government up to the value of £20 million.
The DEC has stressed that monetary donations are needed as opposed to specific items, which are often challenging to transport and not always relevant.
You can find more information and donate via the DEC here.
Derelict Manchester office block to become ‘vital’ accommodation for homeless families
Emily Sergeant
A derelict former office block in Manchester is set to become vital accommodation for homeless families in the region.
Manchester City Council has announced that, subject to planning approval, new temporary accommodation for dozens of homeless families will be created on the site of a derelict former office block in south Manchester, off Nell Lane in Chorlton.
The Council acquired the 1.1 acre site last month with the support of the Government’s Local Authority Housing Fund.
The initiative – which is part of wider plans to boost the city’s stock of quality temporary accommodation – will see self-contained two-bedroom accommodation created for around 55 homeless families built where former NHS offices, Mauldeth House, currently stand.
Mauldeth House has been empty for several years now at this point, and had become somewhat of a ‘blight’ on the neighbourhood, attracting anti-social behaviour along the way and being targeted by squatters – but with the plans for the new accommodation, this could change for the better.
The site, and therefore the new accommodation, is said to be ‘ideally located’ for families, as it’s close to shops, schools, public transport, leisure facilities, and Chorlton Park.
The new accommodation will see families supported by a specialist team based on site to help them move on as quickly as possible into permanent settled tenancies, which is, of course, the long-term goal for many.
The Mauldeth House initiative is cited as being one example of the Council’s drive to increase its temporary accommodation stock across the city to reduce the number of out-of-area placements.
Other successful examples of this initiative include Mariana House in Whalley Range, and The Poplars in Rusholme.
It also comes after it was announced last month that homeless children in Greater Manchester, particularly those who are placed in temporary accommodation out of area for their school, will now get free bus travel to and from school.
“Mauldeth House is a great example of how we can put derelict properties to good use to benefit those experiencing homelessness, as well as making our neighbourhood look better,” explained Deputy Council Leader, Cllr Joanna Midgley.
“We are tackling homelessness on many fronts, the most important one being prevention, but we also need an increased supply of good quality temporary accommodation within the city so that if people do become homeless they are not uprooted from their social support networks.
“One of the ways we are doing this is through the innovative use of existing sites whether they are council owned or we are able to acquire them, as in the case of Mauldeth House.”
Featured Image – Manchester City Council
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Bolton woman who falsely accused 10 men of raping her has been jailed
Emily Sergeant
A woman from Bolton who falsely accused 10 different men of raping her over a six-year period has now been jailed.
Stacey Sharples, 31 from Farnworth in Bolton, pleaded guilty of 10 counts of perverting the course of justice in relation to reports against 10 separate men at Bolton Crown Court earlier last month (2 February 2026), before appearing in court again this week to be sentenced.
The investigation into Sharples was launched after the arrests and questioning of almost all these men, and following the pursuing of all relevant lines of enquiry, which consistently revealed evidence contrary to what had been disclosed by Sharples.
Greater Manchester Police (GMP) says investigations of this nature are ‘extremely rare’ and the decision to pursue Sharples as a suspect was ‘not one taken lightly’.
“However, it is our duty to act in the public interest and on the evidence and information we uncover and receive, which in this case demonstrated a continuous, wilful making of false allegations, knowing full well the consequences for each of the men involved,” GMP said in a statement following Sharples’ sentencing.
Of the allegations Sharples pleaded guilty to – of which were made over a six-year period between 2013 and 2019 – most of the men were arrested and spent time in custody, with some also undertaking intimate examinations, and almost all spending periods of time on police bail or released under investigation.
Statements from the men accused by Stacey Sharples / Credit: GMP
GMP says there’s ‘no doubt’ the reports and arrests have had an impact on these men, their sense of self and relationships, their wider networks, and how they move forward with their lives.
False accounts also undermine those who have genuinely experienced sexual violence.
Police say it also affects the confidence in the criminal justice system, and that the time spent investigating Sharples’ reports could have been put towards investigating ‘genuine reports of sexual offences’ instead.
Sharples has been sentenced to four-and-a-half years in prison this week after pleading guilty to making false rape allegations.
Speaking following Sharples’ sentencing this week, Detective Sergeant Steven Gilliland, who investigated this case, said: “We took the allegations made by Stacey Sharples seriously, explored all lines of enquiry and swiftly made arrests or interviewed of all the men she accused.
“We gave her multiple opportunities to provide further explanation or information to us, after interviews with the men and subsequent evidence uncovered didn’t align with her first recollection, as we understand that trauma can impact how victims and survivors recount their experiences.
“Ultimately, as the evidence continued to demonstrate that the reports were untrue, coupled with the desire for justice from some of the men who had been falsely accused, it was right that we followed the evidence and pursued the individual who had actually committed a criminal offence.”
Emily Sergeant -
15th March 2022 
