It’s a lot harder than anticipated to take in a family of Ukrainian refugees, a retired couple has cautioned.
It comes as a quarter of British hosts are set to quit the government-backed Homes for Ukraine scheme in the forthcoming weeks, noting a lack of help amid the cost of living crisis, inflation and skyrocketing energy bills.
Hosts have also reported delays in obtaining their monthly £350 grants from the government, which are paid out by local councils for each Ukrainian family sheltered, with tension mounting on ministers to double the support to £700.
Some claim they’ve spent thousands to care for their refugees while the Local Government Association, which represents 361 councils in England and Wales, says it only received the government grant money in June and was having to backdate payments.
Elsewhere, government figures reveal that at least 145 placements have led to the refugees becoming homeless after th sponsor guest relationship broke down or the housing was considered unsuitable.
Robin and Sue, who didn’t give their surname but are both in their 60s, are presently caring for four members of the same family, spanning three generations, at their home in the sleepy townlet of Oakhill, in Somerset.
The town of just 700 has taken in more than 30 desperate Ukrainians, who were forced to escape their homes following Vladimir Putin’s cruel attack, now in its sixth month.
The BBC reported that Robin and Sue’s living room is constantly filled with seven refugees, the four they took in and three from next door, while their immaculate garden has been turned into a football pitch.
While Sue said it was lovely to hear children playing and laughing as that was the best gift. Robin subsequently revealed that it had been a lot harder than they believed it would be, and he told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme that they were both in their 60s and that they knew there’d be some additional work looking after them, and that when they first came there was tons of extra work because they were transporting them here and there and everywhere.
He said you get the bank account settled, sort out the mobile phone contracts, and get set up so they can use the phone over here, and he added that if they did it again they would do it for fewer people.
The scheme was never actually going to work because it was another designed-to-fail scheme from a failed Tory government, and yes, perhaps the government meant well but the scheme wasn’t thought out properly, although there might still be time to fix the scheme’s weakness, like doubling the amount of money to families et cetera.
The scheme was, of course, designed to make the government look good, but all it’s accomplished is more added pressure on services et cetera, and I’m speculating here that it’s not just purely down to the cost of hosting but the enormous cultural differences between them and the United Kingdom.
And what about our homeless people in the United Kingdom? And members of the armed forces, veterans et cetera, are they expected to rough it? There appear to be unlimited finances for everyone, except, of course, UK citizens.
Just imagine actually caring for your fellow humans. I mean, how dare we have compassion for these poor refugees? I wonder how many MPs have hosted Ukrainian refugees?
Should we send them back? Well, they’re here now and I’d be surprised if any of them would want to go back.
THE MONTHLY MOSQUITO 