Ukraine £350-a-month rehoming handout 'must be extended'

A man whose wife's Ukrainian relatives are living with them in Bristol wants the government to extend its £350-a-month rehoming scheme.

Chris Bater claims it is unfair he is ineligible for the Homes for Ukraine Scheme because they are not strangers.

This is because Mr Bater has taken them in under the Family Scheme.

The government said it was reducing the financial burden for those hosting Ukrainian relatives by giving them access to work, study and benefits.

Mr Bater, who lives in Stoke Bishop with his wife Taisa, revealed she was due to fly from Kyiv to Stansted the day after Russia invaded on 24 February.

Believing that staying together would keep them safe, Taisa had her two children, daughter-in-law and three grandchildren move into her Kyiv flat.

Just over a week later Taisa, her daughter-in-law-and grandchildren caught a bus to Warsaw in Poland before eventually arriving in Bristol on 17 March.

Her two adult children remain in the Ukrainian capital.

Getting them here under the Family Scheme did not qualify Mr Bater for the benefit, despite him now having four extra people living in his house.

Speaking to BBC Points West, he said: "It's not a fair situation. We're doing our best to help people leaving a country that has been ripped apart."

He said that the government needs to assist people who are helping the refugees because the current scheme "isn't really working at the moment".

A government spokesperson said the "Homes for Ukraine and Ukraine Family schemes are one of the fastest and biggest visa programmes in UK history".

They added the Ukraine Schemes give people "full access to work, study and benefits, including Universal Credit payments from day one".