Family will not be getting paid for hosting Ukrainian refugee because of a nine-year-old conviction

The Gosport couple should have received a total of £2,200 from Hampshire County Council but a fraud conviction means the council won’t pay out.

Early in the year, Sara Milward, 64, applied to become a sponsor for Ukrainian refugees and a 23-year-old Ukrainian woman made contact with her.

“We chatted and talked for over eight weeks,” Mrs Milward said.

The young woman then left Ukraine, where the war with Russia is still going on, and stayed with Mrs Milward and her husband Kenny, 70.

She said they worked with Hampshire County Council and a house check was completed. But background checks on the couple revealed a nine-year-old conviction for Mr Milward.

“The house check was fast and the lady asked to provide a DBS check,” she said.

“I worked for Hampshire County Council but they don’t want my full Enhanced DBS, they have to do one themselves, so I said that’s fine.

“My husband and I did one. My husband’s DBS took one month to come and discloses a previous offence. Nine years ago my husband was sent to court for what they classed as fraud.

“The county council wanted to know the reason for the problem with the DBS and said that we needed to do a risk assessment.”

After six weeks, the couple completed the risk assessment and Mr Milward explained why he was taken to court.

“There was nothing to do with drugs or weapons, and he paid back what he had to pay,” Mrs Milward said.

“The organisation from HCC said that the risk assessment needs to go over three more people who will make the decision. It went on for a length of time. For four months, we have not received monthly payments for the young lady we have. We supported her, and we found jobs for her. We’ve done everything possible we could.”

Mrs Milward works part-time with disabled children, and her husband is now retired and recovering from cancer.

“I do not have enough money either, but we did what we needed to do, but we didn’t receive any payment from them [HCC],” she said.

About three weeks ago, she sent an email to HCC to find a solution for her situation.

The council came back to her recently saying that her husband was not suitable to be a Ukrainian sponsor due to his DBS. Because of that, they would not have been on the sponsor scheme, and the council would not owe them any amount.

“We are actually owed £2,200, and they totally refuse to pay any penny. This is government-funded. All this money is given to councils to help these refugees, so where is the money going anyway?”

The county council gave two alternatives to the couple, to keep the refugee at the house for free or that it provides somewhere to live for the young lady.

“She [the 23-year-old] fels guilty and didn’t want to move away at all. She is comfortable here. She has been lovely and polite since she has been here. It is a family home for her.”

The couple, who lived in a three-bed home, wanted to extend their support to the Ukrainians by hosting more Ukrainians who needed a place to live.

“Because I have another even bigger spare room; if all of that would have been sorted, I could have hosted a mother and a daughter or son, two sisters or whatever, but they rejected us. We got into this to support Ukrainian people, but this was a kick in the teeth.”

According to guidance, families wanting to host Ukrainian refugees need to have a DBS check, but there are certain cases in which local councils can use their own judgment to decide whether to apply for an Enhanced DBS check.

If a DBS check discloses previous offences, the guidance says councils should then use their judgement on a case-by-case basis when deciding someone’s suitability.

A spokesperson for Hampshire County Council said: “While we do not comment on individual cases, we can confirm that ‘thank you’ payments to hosts sponsoring Homes for Ukraine guests do not commence until all safeguarding checks have been satisfactorily completed.

“Should the outcome of these checks lead to potential hosts being deemed unsuitable to start or continue hosting, and this could be for a variety of reasons, the local authority will support a guest to find a suitable re-match.

“The safeguarding checks are extremely important and thorough and are designed to ensure guests are safe, with their physical and mental wellbeing the overriding priority.”