The UK is one of the most generous nations in the world and the British public are now being asked to go one step further and open their homes to those fleeing the war in Ukraine.

We have a long history of helping others in their hour of need and the Homes for Ukraine Scheme offers a lifeline to those forced to flee their homes.

How this works
This bespoke scheme will offer a route to those who want to come to the UK who have someone here willing to provide them with a home. It will enable individuals, charities, community groups and businesses to volunteer accommodation and provide a route to safety for Ukrainians, and their immediate family members, forced to escape their homeland.

Sponsors should provide accommodation for as long as they are able, but we have a minimum expectation of 6 months.

Someone is eligible for the scheme if they are a Ukrainian national or the immediate family member of a Ukrainian national, and were resident in Ukraine prior to 1 January 2022.

We will welcome as many arrivals as possible, based on the number of sponsors.

People arriving under this scheme will be able to:

• Live and work in the UK for up to three years
• Access healthcare, benefits, employment support, education, and English language tuition

I’m interested – how do I register?
If you have a named person who you wish to sponsor you should get in contact with them directly and prepare to fill in a visa application with all their details and yours. The visa application will go live on Friday 18 March.

If you don’t know anyone who you wish to sponsor you may wish to get in touch with charities, faith groups or local community organisations who are starting to make connections between individuals.

You can also register your interest as an individual or as an organisation (for example charity, business, community group). Please read this form and the FAQs first before registering your offer of support, and we will keep in touch with you with updates as the scheme opens and develops.

What sort of accommodation am I expected to provide?
If you have a residential spare room or separate self-contained accommodation that is unoccupied then please come forward. The accommodation must be available for at least 6 months, fit for people to live in, and suitable for the number of people to be accommodated.

Further details on types of accommodation suitable can be found in our FAQs.

Do I need to provide meals or just accommodation?
Just accommodation. There is nothing stopping sponsors offering meals should they wish to.

You will not be expected to cover the costs of food and living expenses (although you may wish to offer this yourself).

I’ve registered my interest, what happens now?
You will be kept updated. In the first phase of the scheme, sponsors will be able to bring named Ukrainians and their immediate family members to the UK. This will launch later this week, and if you have a named family or individual you wish to support you will be able to fill in a form requesting to sponsor them.

Please see further FAQs for those interested in becoming a sponsor.

Thanks to people like you, we successfully campaigned for Croydon to be run by an Elected Mayor chosen directly by the people of Croydon. The result was incredible, with 8 out of 10 voters choosing a new way to run Croydon. The people from every one of the 28 electoral wards voted to have a Mayor.

This May we get to choose who that Mayor will be – and, as a politically non-aligned organisation, we want to give you the chance to hear candidates summarise their credentials for becoming Mayor of Croydon and how they will run our town if they are elected. Also, to answer your questions.

Please join us at 7:30pm on Thursday 7 April as we welcome the five main political candidates. The venue is at St Matthews Church, Chichester Road, Croydon CR0 5NQ which is 0.6 of a mile to walk from East Croydon Station (about 13 minutes). Two buses from East Croydon Station stop nearby – the 64 to New Addington and 433 to Addington Village.

There is plenty of street parking as well as space in the Church car park.

To ensure we have enough time to get you the answers you want, please let us know your key issues for an incoming Mayor by 31 March at the latest, setting out one or possibly two that you consider to be most important. Please be as brief and precise as possible.

We will review all we receive and endeavour to ensure as many as possible are covered. Also, if you have a question for the candidates to which only a “Yes” or “No” reply is sought, please let us have the question by email as well.

The Hustings will start at 8pm and finish promptly by 9.45pm.

Entry and seating will be on a first-come basis and as we are expecting high attendance, we recommend early arrival to be sure you can attend. The hall will be open from 7.30pm.

This is our chance to shape the future of our borough, so please let your Croydon friends, family, neighbours and colleagues know about this hustings on Thursday 7 April.

The DEMOC Mailing Address is:
Campaign for a Democratically Elected Mayor of Croydon (DEMOC)
PO Box 3254
Purley, CR8 9ER

West Wickham & Shirley Baptist Church are collecting first aid items for those in Ukraine. We are joining our Ukrainian Chef, who has links in her home town of Lviv. The items we are collecting are:

• First Aid kits,
• Bandages,
• Plasters,
• Medical tape,
• Paracetamol,
• Ibuprofen.

Please check dates on these items.

We will be collecting these items on an ongoing basis, until necessary.

These items must be delivered to:

West Wickham and Shirley Baptist Church,
Wickham Road,
Croydon.
CR0 8EH

Thank you so much in advance.

An appeal is being launched by the UK’s Disasters Emergency Committee to help the hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians fleeing the conflict.

Fifteen UK aid agencies – including the British Red Cross, Oxfam and Save the Children – are joining together to ask the public to donate.

Homes in Ukraine have been destroyed and water supplies, hospitals and schools have been hit, the DEC says.

The charities say people urgently need food, water, shelter and medical care.

The appeal will help people who have fled Ukraine, but also those who have been displaced to other parts of the country.

DEC members and local aid agencies working with them say they are operating in Ukraine and in the neighbouring countries of Poland, Romania, Hungary, Moldova and Slovakia.

They are using donations to provide trauma care along with medical treatment, food, water and shelter.

All public donations will be doubled by the UK government, up to a total of £20m.

You can donate to the DEC Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal here.