Visa holders entering the UK under the Ukraine Humanitarian Schemes: 16 to 24 June 2022

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• Data collected from 16 to 24 June 2022 show that 59% of respondents aged 18 years and over arrived in the UK from Ukraine more than four weeks before completing the survey; most adult respondents are female (81%) and 55% are aged 30 to 49 years.

• Of respondents arriving from Ukraine, the majority (83%) live in England and 20% currently live in London.

• More than half of respondents (56%) said that their preferred language when accessing information in the UK was Ukrainian; over four in ten respondents (44%) said they could speak a fair amount or are fluent in English.

• Around eight in ten respondents (83%) aged 18 to 65 years said they were either currently working, or were very likely or likely to look for work in the UK in the next month.

• Around eight in ten respondents (82%) said they have a bank or post office account in the UK; 37% reported they have enough money to support themselves and their dependents for the next three months.

Support for Ukrainians

The British Red Cross supports people from Ukraine who are in the UK. The Help for Ukrainian nationals page provides more information about services and support available.

The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities has produced a guide for Ukrainians arriving in the UK.

In March 2022, the UK government launched two visa schemes to support those displaced by Russia's invasion of Ukraine. These new schemes allow Ukrainian nationals and their family members to apply to stay in the UK for up to three years. The Ukraine Family Scheme allows Ukrainian nationals and their family members to join family members already residing in the UK. The Ukraine Sponsorship Scheme (Homes for Ukraine) allows Ukrainian nationals and their family members to come to the UK if they have a named sponsor who can provide accommodation.

The UK Humanitarian Response Insight Survey aims to understand the experiences and intentions of those arriving in the UK under both schemes. More information on the types of visa schemes and collecting the data can be found in the Glossary and Measuring the data sections.

This is the second time this survey has been conducted, with the previous survey covering 20 to 27 April 2022. The first survey sampled 3,412 individuals, with the majority entering the UK under the Ukraine Family Scheme. Most respondents had arrived between one and four weeks before completing the survey.

The most recent survey sampled 9,601 individuals, with the majority entering the UK under the Ukraine Sponsorship Scheme. Most had arrived more than four weeks before completing the survey.

As the samples of these surveys have some fundamental differences, care should be taken when comparing estimates.

The data collected from 16 to 24 June 2022 show that 59% of respondents arrived in the UK more than four weeks before completing the survey, while 4% arrived less than a week before completing the survey. Most respondents (80%) arrived under the Ukraine Sponsorship Scheme (Homes for Ukraine), while 19% arrived under the Ukraine Family Scheme.

The majority of those arriving (81%) are female. More than half (55%) are aged 30 to 49 years, which is the largest age group of adults that have come to the UK. This is followed by those aged 18 to 29 years (26%). Around 8 in 10 respondents (79%) are educated to degree level or above.

Respondents were asked about their preferred language for accessing information in the UK and their English language proficiency. Ukrainian was the preferred language to access information for 56% of respondents, while 38% reported English as their preferred language.

Of respondents to the survey:

• around two in five (44%) said they are fluent in English or can speak a fair amount

• almost half (48%) said they can read or understand a fair amount or most things in English

• around one-third (36%) said they can write a fair amount or most things in English

Current living arrangements and future intentions to stay in the UK

Most respondents (83%) who have arrived from Ukraine live in England, while 11% live in Scotland and 5% in Wales. Two in ten respondents (20%) live in London, while 19% live in the South East of England.

Figure 2: Most respondents are currently living in London or the South East of England

Percentage of respondents by the area they currently live in, UK, 16 to 24 June 2022

Notes:

1. Respondents who did not provide valid geographical information have been excluded from any analysis on current residency.

Download the data

.xlsx

Three-quarters of respondents (75%) would prefer to live in urban areas, with 31% reporting that London is the place they would most like to live. However, 26% of respondents did not know what area of the UK they would most like to live.

Respondents were asked about their current living arrangements. Around three in ten (28%) respondents reported being the only person in their household who has arrived from Ukraine since 1 March 2022, while 39% said they live with one other person who also arrived from Ukraine

Around two-thirds of respondents (67%) who arrived with others reported living with at least one son or daughter, while 32% reported living with a spouse or partner who has also arrived from Ukraine. 

Other than the people they live with, 51% said they have family, friends, or contacts in the UK. Almost a third of respondents (32%) expect other family members or friends to come to the UK in the future, while 34% said they did not expect any others to join them in the UK.

Around three in five respondents (62%) reported having their current living arrangements paid for by a sponsor or charity, while 6% reported paying for their current living arrangements themselves.

Around four in ten respondents (38%) said they intend to stay in the UK for three years or more, while 29% said they intended to stay for up to three years and 30% did not know.

Living with dependents

Almost half of respondents (47%) reported living with at least one dependent child, while 14% reported living with one or more dependent adults. Of those with at least one dependent child, 53% have at least one child requiring a primary school education service, while 40% have at least one child requiring a secondary school education.

Around four in ten respondents (38%) said they have a dependent child or dependent children of school age (aged 5 to 16 years). Among adults who reported having at least one child aged 4 to 6 years, 71% said they intended on applying for a school place for them. This was 85% for respondents with a dependent child aged 7 to 10 years, and 91% for those with a dependent child aged 11 to 16 years.

Health and well-being

When asked about their health, most respondents said their overall physical health and overall mental health was good or very good (78% and 70%, respectively). This is comparable with the UK average overall health status. In 2019 to 2020, the majority of the UK population (75.3% of men and 75.7% of women) reported their health was generally good or very good, as shown in our UK health indicators bulletin.

Around one in eight respondents (13%) reported having a long lasting physical or mental health condition or illness lasting, or expected to last, 12 months or more. This was most common for respondents aged 70 years and over (43%). Four in five respondents (80%) said they had received at least one dose of the coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine.

Before leaving Ukraine, 32% of respondents were receiving regular healthcare treatment (for example, hospital visits or physiotherapy). Of those, 22% said this treatment had continued since arriving in the UK. Around two in ten respondents (21%) reported receiving regular prescriptions for medication or drugs while in Ukraine. Of those, 37% said they have been able to access regular prescriptions and drugs since arriving in the UK.

Employment and labour market

Respondents were asked about their employment status when they lived in Ukraine. Around three-quarters (76%) reported they were either employed or self-employed while living in Ukraine. Of those who were employed or self-employed in Ukraine, common sectors of work reported were teaching and education (13%), retail (including wholesale) (12%) and information technology and communication (12%).

Around four in five (83%) working-age respondents (aged 18 to 65 years) reported they were currently working, or that they were very likely or likely to look for work in the UK in the next month.

Among working-age respondents who said they were likely, very likely or neither likely nor unlikely to look for work in the next month, 62% reported they would look for full-time work, and 53% said they would look for part-time work.

Around four in five respondents (82%) said they have a bank or post office account in the UK, while 37% said they have enough money to support themselves and their dependants for the next three months.

Ukraine Sponsorship Scheme

The Ukraine Sponsorship Scheme (Homes for Ukraine)allows Ukrainian nationals and their family members to come to the UK if they have a named sponsor (in Wales and Scotland this includes those sponsored directly by the Welsh Government or Scottish Government). 

Ukraine Family Scheme

The Ukraine Family Scheme allows applicants to join family members or extend their stay in the UK.

Survey estimates

The data were collected between 16 and 24 June 2022. All adults (aged 18 years and over) who had been granted a visa under the Ukraine Family Scheme or Ukraine Sponsorship Scheme (Homes for Ukraine), had arrived in the UK by 15 June 2022, and had not been invited to take part in the first wave, were asked to take part in the survey via email.

In many cases, groups of applicants (for example, families) had used a single email address on multiple visa applications. Only one invitation was sent to each email address. This means that, where applications shared an email address, only one individual would be able to respond to the survey. This introduces bias in the results. The achieved sample consisted of 9,601 respondents. The response rate for this survey was 31%.

Percentages in this bulletin are based on weighted counts that are representative of the population of Ukraine Humanitarian Scheme visa holders who arrived in the UK by 15 June 2022 and had not been invited to take part in the first wave of this survey. They are adjusted to address age, sex, and scheme bias in response. As with all surveys, these estimates have an associated margin of error.

The survey was conducted online via Smart Survey. Individuals were sent an email with a unique access code (UAC) inviting them to complete the survey, and all answers were self-reported. The survey was available in English and Ukrainian. Approximately 5% of respondents reported having had help completing the survey. For those who required support to complete the survey online or needed translation, telephone interviewers were available.

The statistics presented in this bulletin are Experimental Statistics and contain uncertainty; therefore, care needs to be taken when interpreting them.

The main strengths of the Humanitarian Response Insight Survey include:

• the timely production of data and statistics that can respond quickly to changes, aiding local and national emergency response planning

• quality assurance procedures that are undertaken throughout the analysis stages to minimise the risk of error

• confidence intervals that are available in the associated datasets as an assessment of quality

The main limitations of the Humanitarian Response Insight Survey include that:

• the time for data collection was limited to ensure timely production of estimates, limiting the period respondents could take part, and potentially causing bias

• the survey and supporting material were available in English and Ukrainian but not translated into Russian; it was completed online and while telephone interviews could be conducted in another language upon request, the lack of translation or internet accessibility may have been a barrier for people who did not respond

• the survey was designed in a relatively simple way to encourage response, meaning that not all areas of interest could be covered in depth

• response was dependent on the visa holder being contacted via email and, in some cases, email addresses were not supplied for each individual

The survey was compiled rapidly to inform the UK's response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the subsequent evacuation of individuals fleeing Ukraine, and to aid local and national emergency response planning.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) conducted this survey in collaboration with the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) and the Home Office.