Visa holders entering the UK under the Ukraine Humanitarian Schemes – Follow-up survey: 20 July to 4 August 2022

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• Data collected from 20 July to 4 August 2022 show that 93% of Ukrainian nationals who had arrived in the UK and taken part in our April survey had remained in the UK, with 7% having since left.

• The proportion of Ukrainian nationals employed in the UK has increased significantly to 42%, from 9% in April, and the proportion of those having a UK bank account increased to 94%, from 43% in April.

• Some 37% of respondents said they had enough money to support themselves for the next three months, up from 26% in April.

• Almost half (47%) of respondents had experienced some barriers to being able to take up work in the UK; the most common was English language skills not meeting the job requirements (58%).

• Of those with a qualification gained outside of the UK, 43%  indicated that UK employers had generally not recognised their qualifications when applying for jobs.

• Most respondents said they did not understand very well or at all well how to apply to extend or change their visa (69%), or what state benefits they may be eligible for (58%).

• According to responses to questions taken from the Generalised Anxiety Disorder 2-Item (GAD-2) screening tool, and the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-2) depression screener, 21% of respondents showed potential signs of generalised anxiety disorder and 21% showed potential signs of depressive symptoms.

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 Follow-up Survey aims to understand the opinions and experiences of those arriving in the UK under both schemes, and how these might have changed since they completed the first Humanitarian Response Insight Survey (UKHRIS) in April. We have conducted a second UKHRIS study since, which will be followed up in due course.

More information on the types of visa schemes and collecting the data can be found in the Glossary and Measuring the data sections.

The first UKHRIS in April 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.

This survey follows up on 1,132 individuals who agreed to be contacted after the first survey, and responded to this follow-up. While this sample is a sub-sample of the first survey and weighting has been applied to make the two surveys broadly comparable, care should be taken when comparing estimates. More information can be found in the Strengths and limitations section.

The data collected from 20 July to 4 August 2022 show that 93% of respondents were still in the UK, and only 7% had left since April 2022. The statistics in the remainder of this bulletin are based on respondents who were still in the UK at the time of the survey.

Almost half (47%) of respondents said they thought they would stay in the UK for at least a year, with 28% intending to stay for at least three years. This is comparable to the April survey, with 33% of respondents reporting an intention to stay for at least three years. The wording for this question has changed since the April 2022 survey to increase acceptability.

The proportion of respondents living in each UK constituent country has not significantly changed since April; 90% of respondents live in England, 5% in Scotland and 3% in Wales. Owing to sample counts of less than 10, estimates for Northern Ireland have been suppressed.

However, there were some significant changes between English regions. Compared with April, more respondents reported living in the North East (4% from 2%) and the South West (11% from 7%), and fewer in the East of England (6% from 12%) and the South East (12% from 18%).

The vast majority of respondents (93%) indicated they were very or fairly satisfied with their local area as a place to live, and less than a quarter (23%) had considered moving to another part of the UK. Of these, the most commonly considered region was London (42%).

Since April, 18% of respondents have changed their accommodation. Of these, around one-third (32%) had done so because their sponsor was unable to continue hosting them, one-quarter (25%) chose to move to a different type of accommodation, while 40% said they changed accommodation for another reason. Respondents could choose multiple options for this question.

Most respondents (89%) reported being very or fairly satisfied with their current accommodation. In the past month, 35% had searched for private rented accommodation, with 20% indicating that they were likely or very likely to move in the next 30 days.

Skills and qualifications

Among adults with their highest level of qualification gained outside of the UK, 43% said employers generally did not recognise their qualifications when applying for jobs. This compares with a quarter (25%) who indicated that employers generally did recognise them, and 29% who said they did not know.

Over half (56%) of respondents reported that they held a valid driving licence.

English language

Over half (51%) of respondents indicated they could speak English well or very well. For reading and writing, this was 63% and 51%, respectively. In April, around a third (34%) said they were fluent in English or could speak a fair amount, 39% could read or understand a fair amount or most English, and 28% could write a fair amount or most things in English. Questions on English language proficiency differed between the two surveys.

Since arriving, just over half (52%) of respondents had used English language courses in the UK. Of these, the majority (85%) said they were satisfied or very satisfied.

Labour market

Around 4 in 10 (42%) respondents are employed in the UK, a significant increase from 9% in April 2022. The majority of those employed (63%) said they had a permanent job, with one-quarter (25%) having a temporary job. The most common sectors of work were accommodation or food service (29%), manufacturing (8%), and wholesale and retail trade (8%), with 28% reporting "other".

Most (63%) employed adults indicated not working in the same sector as they had worked in Ukraine. They described the main reasons for this to be taking any available job (44%), their English language skills not meeting job requirements (39%), and their qualifications not being recognised (17%). Respondents could choose multiple options for this question.

Just over a quarter (27%) of respondents reported being unemployed. Of all adults not currently working (58%), over half (55%) said they were very likely or likely to look for work in the next 30 days, compared with 37% who were unlikely or very unlikely to look for work.

Almost half (47%) of respondents said they had experienced some barriers to being able to take up work in the UK. The most common were English language skills not meeting the job requirements (58%), their qualifications not being recognised or valid in the UK (33%), or they had not found a job that suited their skills (24%). Respondents could choose multiple options for this question.

Dependent children

Some 38% of adults reported living with at least one dependent child, who had arrived with them from Ukraine. This estimate is not comparable to the estimate in the April survey owing to question changes. 

Of these, most (57%) said their children attended primary school; followed by secondary school (42%); nursery, preschool or childminder (10%) and further education (9%). Respondents could choose multiple options for this question.

Of respondents with a dependent child aged five years or over, 6% said their children were not registered at any UK school.

Of adults living with at least one dependent child who had arrived with them, 29% said their children received English language support at their nursery, preschool or childminder. For dependents at primary school or secondary school, these were 55% and 53%, respectively.

By comparison, 32% of respondents indicated their children needed English language support but were not receiving it at their nursery, preschool or childminder. For primary school and secondary school these were 21% and 14%, respectively.

Around a quarter (24%) of adults with at least one dependent child (of school age) said they had experienced some difficulties registering their children at school in the UK. The main difficulties experienced were being told there was no space at the local school (63%), their child arrived mid-year after school had started (28%), or they did not know if their children were allowed to go to school (26%). Respondents could choose multiple options for this question.

Rights in the UK

Respondents were asked about their awareness and understanding of their rights in the UK. The majority (86%) said they understood very or fairly well how long they are allowed to stay in the UK, the rules about the hours they are allowed to work (61%) and the rules about who they are allowed to work for (53%). Most adults said they did not understand very well or not at all well how to apply to extend or change their visa (69%), or what state benefits they may be eligible for (58%).

Finance

Over 9 in 10 (94%) adults reported that they had a UK bank or Post Office account, a significant increase from April 2022 where 43% had an account.

The proportion of adults who reported having enough money to support themselves and their dependents was 37%, a significant increase from 26% in April 2022.

When asked how satisfied they were with their current financial situation, 46% reported feeling fairly or very satisfied, while 45% were fairly or very dissatisfied.

Almost 6 in 10 (58%) of respondents were currently in receipt of state benefits, of these, the most common was Universal Credit (78%).

Health and well-being

When asked about their general health, most respondents said their overall physical health and mental health were good or very good (73% and 75%, respectively). There is no significant change in reported physical or mental health from the April survey (77% and 76%, respectively).

Responses on physical and mental health are broadly 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.

Anxiety and depression

Respondents were asked questions from the Generalised Anxiety Disorder (GAD-2) anxiety screener as well as the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-2) depressive symptoms screener. Further information on the GAD-2 and PHQ-2 definitions of anxiety and depression can be found in the Measuring the data section.

In the two weeks prior to filling out the survey, around one in five (21%) respondents reported feeling nervous, anxious or on edge for more than half the days or nearly every day, and 18% reported not being able to stop or control worrying for more than half the days or nearly every day.

Some 16% of respondents reported feeling down, depressed or hopeless for more than half the days or nearly every day. Similarly, 17% of respondents reported experiencing little interest or pleasure in doing things for more than half the days or nearly every day.

Using the GAD-2 scale, around one in five (21%) of respondents showed potential signs of some form of anxiety. Similarly, using the PHQ-2 scale, 21% of respondents showed potential signs of depressive symptoms.

By comparison, our previous analysis of depression or anxiety in adults in Great Britain found that 16% of adults were likely to have some form of anxiety and 16% were likely to experience some form of depressive symptoms (using PHQ-8, an extended version of the PHQ-2). This comparison should be interpreted with caution due to the coverage of different time periods. Any differences in estimates could be attributed to seasonality effects.

Of respondents, 9 in 10 (91%) indicated they had never accessed mental health services. The most common reason cited was that they did not need to (73%).

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 20 July and 4 August 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), arrived in the UK before 19 April 2022, participated in the first Humanitarian Response Insight Survey (UKHRIS) survey in April, and agreed to be recontacted, were asked to take part in the survey.

In many cases, groups of applicants (for example, families) had used a single email address on multiple visa applications. During the first UKHRIS survey, only one invitation was sent to each email address. This means that, where applications shared an email address, only one individual was able to respond to the survey. This introduces bias in the results as the sample for this survey was based on the sample from the first UKHRIS survey.

This follow-up survey was conducted via Blaise 5. Individuals were sent an email with a unique access code (UAC) inviting them to complete the survey online and all answers were self-reported. The survey was available in English and Ukrainian. For those who required support to complete the survey online or needed translation, telephone interviewers were available.

The achieved sample consisted of 1,132 respondents, with an overall response rate of 39%. Approximately 15% of respondents reported having had help completing the survey.

Percentages in this bulletin are based on weighted counts that are applied to be broadly representative of the population of Ukraine Humanitarian Scheme visa holders who arrived in the UK prior to 19 April 2022. 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 statistics presented in this bulletin are Experimental Statistics and contain uncertainty; therefore, care needs to be taken when interpreting them.

Measuring anxiety and depression

Respondents were asked two sets of questions about how they had felt over the last two weeks from the Generalized Anxiety Disorder 2-item, GAD-2 and the Patient Health Questionnaire-2, PHQ-2, which are screening tools for generalised anxiety disorder and depressive symptoms, respectively.

The responses were scored from 0 (Not at all) to 3 (Nearly every day). The responses for the two questions were summed for the GAD-2 anxiety and PHQ-2 depression questions, resulting in a score ranging from 0 to 6 for each. Total scores of 3 and over were interpreted as potential signs of generalised anxiety disorder (GAD-2) and potential signs of depressive symptoms (PHQ-2), respectively.

The main strengths of the Humanitarian Response Insight Follow-up 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 uncertainty

• responses have been weighted by age, sex and humanitarian scheme to mitigate bias and to allow results to be broadly representative of visa holders who had entered the UK by 19 April 2022 under the Ukraine Humanitarian Schemes

The main limitations of the Humanitarian Response Insight Follow-up Survey include:

• the time for data collection was limited to ensure timely production of estimates, limiting the period during which 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

• this follow-up survey will include any bias from the initial sample in the first Humanitarian Response Insight Survey (UKHRIS) survey, and may introduce further bias through recontact and non-response to this survey

The survey was compiled rapidly to help 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.