Councils and partners ‘mobilised’ to help Ukrainian people arriving in Kent

March 25, 2022 Kathy Bailes News 11

County Hall lit up in Ukrainian flag colours

Kent County Council is working with partners to provide assistance when the first Ukrainian people fleeing war arrive in Kent.

Latest data from Government says there are currently 1,165 Ukrainian people matched with sponsors in 429 properties in Kent who signed up for the scheme at www.homesforukraine.campaign.gov.uk

KCC says it will provide help to new arrivals and host families with advice and support to access all the relevant services including children’s education, healthcare, benefits, English classes and interpreting/translation services where required.

DBS checks, which are required of all sponsors under the Homes for Ukraine scheme, will be carried out as well as enhanced DBS checks for hosts who will have Ukrainian children staying with them.

Accommodation must be safe and suitable and district, borough and city council councils will conduct the relevant housing checks.

The Government will give councils funding to provide this support and KCC says it is working with partners to have provisions in place ready for the first arrivals.

All Kent Resilience Forum Partners have been mobilised and are on hand to support current and any further needs of Ukrainian arrivals, as these emerge.

The voluntary sector and charities in Kent are also rallying to provide support in local communities.

Roger Gough, Leader of Kent County Council said: “Kent is ready to help as many refugees as possible and through the quick mobilisation of our partners and the Kent Resilience Forum, we are ready to do so.

“As the terrible atrocities in Ukraine continue and Ukrainian people flee the conflict, it has been wonderful and truly heartening to see the generous response from so many residents across Kent who have signed up to the Homes for Ukraine scheme and offered to provide a place of safety in their homes for these traumatised Ukrainian families.

“Our job, working together in Kent and with central government, is to make sure those who arrive in our county have all the care and support they need when they arrive and for as long as they stay. We will continue to strive to ensure this is the case.”

For more information or to find out more about how you canhelp go to  www.kent.gov.uk/Ukraine

For charities or volunteers wishing to offer help, people needing advice on refugees or Ukrainian refugees themselves seeking information  contact  [email protected]

11 Comments

  1. Regretfully there is no facility to notify the likes of KCC etc when one has a DBS certificate. My wife and I have enhanced status yet we and our sponsored family must wait and wait and wait until our name pops up on someones computer and then potentially for the person to carry out the check. If one has a DBS certificate all we need to do is quote the reference details. Seven days we have waited for some form of communication from the authorities.

      • Thats nonsense Nickolai! The UK is the only country insisting refugees obtain a visa before coming here, why? Its because this dumb government, and especially Priti Patel the Home Secretary, think this will make refugees prove they are Ukrainian, why? Its because of Brexit: bogus asylum seekers and refugees can’t be returned to the EU if they manage to get here illegally, which they could have had we still been in the EU, Duurh! This is the “Pull Factor”, migrants know they can’t be returned to any EU country, so they will get here any way they can because its better than sitting in the dirt and dust of their war torn countries!

        Insisting Ukrainian refugees obtain a visa first means many thousands of mainly women and children are languishing in tempary refugee camps in France and elsewhere, because like most people in Ukraine they don’t have a passport, or any other means to prove they are Ukrainian! Only this Tory government could make a mess of this crisis, but in the meantime people can donate over the phone to: Refugee Action 0800 141 2426, UNICEF the children’s charity 0300 330 5580, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees on 0800 029 3883.

    • I have a sneaking feeling that people fleeing from the most appalling violence and death in Ukraine couldn’t care a fig about a DBS certificate.
      Had Jiimy Saville had to have applied for one, he would have got it.
      Get the families over here. People are waiting to take refugees in, to give them shelter and security.
      The bureaucracy can wait; desperate people can’t.

  2. No let’s not get the families over here!

    Who will end up paying for this? Us the taxpayer that’s who.

    It’s not my war and I’m not up to taking deserters in!.

    Plenty of other countries in between us and them in both directions!

    Maybe try and sort the mess this country is in before causing more issues!

    • Your a Pillock so called Oh no! Its people like you that make me and millions of others despise you for your selfish, cold hearted take on Refugees! I was a child refugee during the war, along with my mum, and we had nothing except what we stood up in! Priti Patel, and Johnson should hold their heads in shame demanding refugees must apply for Visas to come here! No other country is doing this, and the only reason is because of Brexit!

      When we left the EU it meant anyone entering the UK without authority, usually from France, could not be returned back to the first EU county they had entered! This is the so called “Pull Factor”, bogus asylum seekers who manage to get here can no longer be returned this way, which they could be had we still been a member of the EU! This is why Priti Patel, and Johnson are demanding refugees obtain a visa, to try and stop bogus refugees coming here, stable doors and horses come to mind!

      Demanding refugees, mostly women and children, must obtain a visa is supposed to prove they are actually Ukrainians, but in reality means tens of thousands of them are being stuck in France and elsewhere, living in total misery! I am suffering from fits of anxiety now, when I see pictures of all those poor suffering people, children, and babies, because I was Fostered out to an elderly woman, when my mum couldn’t cope anymore, and you so called “Oh no, should be ashamed of your self for your lack of pity!

  3. The people coming from Ukraine are mostly women and children . Men under 60 are remaining there to fight the Russians.

    I strongly disagree with “Oh no”‘s apparent stance, and hope he/she is simply one of our local provocateurs rather than a selfish heartless so-and-so.

  4. Veteran US war reporter Lara Logan calls out the current and extensive Western propaganda on Ukraine. Many observers, old time journalists and retired military, who know the history, see that there is a far more complex story tainted by Western influences. Indeed the Mail has just admitted the Hiunter Biden links with Ukraine business and bio weapon labs, and that this is not Russian propaganda. M15 itself has registered concern at unvetted entry into the UK. Truth delivers proper humanitarian aid ultimately. Propaganda doesn’t. https://tapnewswire.com/2022/03/lara-logan-on-fire-i-do-not-like-being-lied-to-over-ukraine-covid-elections/

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