Scottish Budget: £73 million allocated for Ukrainian refugee resettlement

The Scottish Government has allocated almost £73 million for the resettlement of Ukrainian refugees in the Scottish Budget.

The Budget has listed £72.3m to be put aside for the cost of rehousing those fleeing the war in Ukraine as part of its efforts to support human rights.

It comes as new figures revealed a total of 22,219 displaced people from Ukraine had arrived in the UK on a visa with a Scottish sponsor as of December 13. Out of these, 82 per cent (18,155) were sponsored by the Scottish Government. This is around 200 more people than were living in Scotland with the Government as a host than the previous month.

The Government was forced to halt its super sponsor scheme in July to catch up with a backlog of new arrivals and match them to long-term accommodation. The scheme, which allowed Ukrainians to name the Government as their sponsor for a UK Government Homes for Ukraine visa, rather than find an individual host, was paused supposedly for three months, but is not set to be re-started.

Scotland has welcomed thousands of refugees from Ukraine. Picture: Getty Images

Last month, the Government launched a new recruitment drive to find more hosts willing to take Ukrainian refugees into their homes. Thousands of people have been unable to find a more long-term accommodation solution and are living in hotels and cruise ships paid for by the Government.

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton welcomed the funding, but warned more work needed to be done to move Ukrainian refugees into more permanent homes.

He said: “In part this is an admission that the Government were hopelessly under prepared for the arrival of our Ukrainian guests. We are still nowhere near where we should be in terms of matching and checking homes with guests. This cash will hopefully go to help that, but right now, given the majority are in temporary accommodation.

"We are offering them a new limbo rather than a new life."

At the beginning of the conflict, more than 20,000 Scots expressed an interest in hosting refugees in their homes. However, in August, refugees minister Neil Gray admitted more than half of those people had dropped out of the scheme.

The Budget report stated: “We continue to deal with the unforeseen – though entirely understandable and accepted – costs of resettling refugees fleeing the war in Ukraine. The way thousands of people in Scotland have opened their homes is an example of our country at its very best.

“Responding to this conflict has required a concerted effort at all levels, from the Scottish Government working closely with local government and third-sector partners nationally to grassroots organisations collaborating within their communities. Scotland will always play our full part when supporting those fleeing conflict and persecution and we are making provision for continuing costs of Ukrainian resettlement in this Budget.”

The report added: “We are investing £70m in our Ukrainian Resettlement programme to ensure those displaced by the illegal war in Ukraine continue to receive a warm Scots welcome, and are supported to rebuild their lives in our communities for as long as they need to call Scotland their home.”