A Winchester City Councillor has called for hosts under the Homes for Ukraine scheme to receive top-up payments to help with the cost-of-living crisis.

Former refugees minister Lord Richard Harrington said he was lobbying the Treasury ‘very hard’ to double the £350-a-month ‘thank you’ payment before he stepped down from his post earlier this month as part of a Government reshuffle which saw Liz Truss named the new Prime Minister.

Lord Harrington said the increase was needed to help hosts continue past the initially agreed six months while inflation, rising interest rates and energy bills spiral. 

In the meantime, some local authorities have taken the decision to issue top-up payments to help ease the pressure on families who have taken in Ukrainian guests.

City of Sanctuary Champion Cllr John Tippett-Cooper has echoed Lord Harrington's calls, and further challenged the county council to implement similar measures.

He said: "Lord Harrington raised concerns about the impact of the cost-of-living crisis on families supporting Ukrainian refugees across the country. In Winchester, many families will be feeling this cost-of-living squeeze acutely.

"The Government needs to consider acting urgently to prepare a new package for both hosts and their Ukrainian guests. Hampshire County Council should also consider the possibility of topping up the monthly payments being made to host families as other councils have done."

For some refugees who arrived in Hampshire shortly after the war began in March their agreements are now coming to an end, raising concerns that many families will be left looking for a more permanent arrangement in the coming months.

Local authorities have been preparing for such eventualities.

In Winchester, an initial £740,000 support package was allocated in June as part of the government scheme, which will be used to provide a specialised support team to help guests secure longer-term housing, prevent homelessness and work to smoothly integrate them into the community.

Hampshire is currently hosting over 1,000 families as part of the Government's Homes for Ukraine Scheme. To date, less than 100 sponsor arrangements have come to an end, for a variety of reasons.

This includes where families have decided to seek their own independent accommodation to further assist with their integration into Hampshire life.

As of August 15, 252 hosts in Winchester had completed the process of matching with Ukrainian families, welcoming a total of 536 individuals across the district.

As per a recent Finance and Performance report, the city council has supported 3 rematches.

Some 71 Ukrainians have been provided with housing advice, 12 have approached the council because they believed to be threatened with homelessness and 23 have been supported to apply onto Hampshire Home Choice.

A spokesperson for Hampshire County Council, said: “The Homes for Ukraine scheme is a national programme, with payment amounts determined by central Government.

"The Local Government Association has called for the Government to increase sponsor payments, primarily to aid with retention, and the County Council supports any national action to help with this.”