Ukraine response

There are many different organisations, all working together on our response to welcoming Ukrainian refugees to Lincolnshire.

Lincolnshire County Council

The county council has a number of responsibilities, such as:

• Receiving the necessary data from the central government Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities about sponsors/guests who have applied for visas.
• Making initial contact with Lincolnshire sponsors via email to set out the next steps of the process and continue to track progress on a case-by-case basis.
• Undertaking safeguarding checks on sponsors including initiating DBS checks.

You can let Lincolnshire County Council know your guests have arrived by emailing homesforukraine@lincolnshire.gov.uk. They will then get in touch with you to share information regarding guest/sponsor payments.

Lincolnshire Fire and Rescue Service

Your local fire and rescue service can support you and your guests once they have arrived at your home. They provide a number of services, such as:

• Undertaking post arrival 'safe and well' visits to sponsor households.
• Sharing translated welcome information with Ukrainian guests.
• Offering home fire safety advice and installing home fire safety equipment, if required.

District Councils

The district council will also support you in a number of ways. They will:

• Arrange home visits to ensure that the accommodation you are offering is appropriate and that everything is in place for your guest(s). You can read more about what you need to do to make sure your home is suitable at .gov.uk.
• Administer the optional monthly sponsor ‘thank you’ payment.
• In the unlikely event that a sponsorship arrangement breaks down, district council homelessness teams may become involved to consider the needs around emergency temporary accommodation, as a last resort. 

Wellbeing Lincs

Wellbeing Lincs is a county-wide service supporting adults across Lincolnshire to achieve confident, fulfilled and independent living. They:

• Offer emotional support, help with accessing health, education, benefits and council services, including housing to both sponsors and guests.
• Administer £200 interim guest payments and where applicable, the school uniform funding (once district councils have verified the requests).
• Working in partnership with councils, support guests and/or sponsors where there is a risk of arrangement breakdown, offering advice and support and facilitating onward referrals to support services if required.

Guests can access the service by emailing ukraine.wellbeing@e-lindsey.gov.uk with details of their name, address, contact information and a brief description of the support they require. The team will aim to be in touch within two working days. Alternatively, the team can be contacted by phone on 01507 613044 from 9am to 5pm Monday to Thursday or 10am to 4.30pm on Fridays. The phone line can get very busy, so email is the quickest way to make contact. Please also note that although Wellbeing Lincs uses an East Lindsey email address and phone number, the service is open to all hosts and guests in Lincolnshire.

Connect to Support

Connect to Support Lincolnshire is an online information and advice library, community directory and provider marketplace for people in Lincolnshire.

The Advice for Ukrainian Arrivals information pages aim to guide Ukrainian guests to local services. All of the information within the Connect to Support website can be translated into Ukrainian and Russian using the Google Translate function at the top of the web page.

Lincolnshire Voluntary Engagement Team (LVET)

The Ukraine Coordination Group has commissioned Lincolnshire Voluntary Engagement Team (LVET) to provide a range of communications and services related to Ukrainian arrivals in Lincolnshire:

• Develops communications, ensures suitability and security of voluntary and community groups offering support.
• Provides available and accessible countywide information and advice services.
• Engages with various groups, sponsors and refugees to co-ordinate the work that sponsors, community and faith groups are doing to support refugees and to gain a greater understanding of any gaps to better meet the needs of Ukrainian arrivals.