TOO many questions remain unanswered over the government’s new sponsorship route for Ukrainian refugees, Labour has said, calling for clarity on how the scheme will work.

Ukrainians without family ties in Britain will soon be able to come to the country if they are matched and housed with a sponsor under the Homes for Ukraine programme. 

Cabinet minister Michael Gove said today that he expects the scheme to bring tens of thousands of Ukrainians to Britain. 

Local councils will be entitled to receive more than £10,000 per Ukrainian refugee, he announced, while people who open their homes will receive £350 a month. 

Speaking to Sky, he said that people can register their interest from Monday. 

Sponsored Ukrainians will be granted three years’ leave to remain in Britain, with entitlement to work and access public services. Britons offering homes will be vetted and Ukrainian applicants will undergo security checks. 

Mr Gove confirmed that 3,000 Ukrainian refugees had now been granted visas, up from 50 a week ago. 

Details about the new route were revealed following a week of growing anger at the British government’s insistence on requiring Ukrainians to apply for visas while the European Union had dropped visa requirements. 

But critics have expressed doubts about the workability of the new sponsorship route. Shadow communities secretary Lisa Nandy said: “We still need far more urgency, and too many questions remain unanswered. 
  
“Once they are here, how will families access support such as universal credit for housing after their sponsorship ends?” she queried. 
 
“Ministers must reduce all unnecessary bureaucracy for desperate people fleeing Putin and they must engage councils and charities, who know what can be done — but, incredibly, haven’t been asked yet.”

Refugee Council chief executive Enver Solomon said households who take in Ukrainian refugees must be given specialist support to look after “inevitably traumatised” people. 

And Freedom from Torture’s Steve Crawshaw warned the new scheme does nothing to tackle the “the mountain of red tape which refugees will continue to face when seeking sanctuary on our shores.”

The group said that the public compassion shown to refugees was not matched by the government’s response, citing new laws currently being pushed through Parliament that would see asylum-seekers criminalised for entering Britain without permission.