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Darllenwch ein hadroddiad cryno yn Gymraeg

According to the United Nations, 6.2 million displaced people from Ukraine were recorded globally after Russian’s invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022.

In March 2022, the UK Government announced plans to allow those fleeing war in Ukraine to enter the UK.

Welsh Ministers decided that the Welsh Government would be a Homes for Ukraine super sponsor. This meant that the Welsh Government took responsibility for Ukrainians without them needing to be matched with a host before receiving a visa.

The Welsh Government’s super sponsor scheme has accounted for around 45% of Ukrainian arrivals in Wales.

Our report looked at whether the Welsh Government, working with its partners, is responding effectively to support Ukrainians in Wales.

We looked at both the initial response and how the response has changed over time.

Overall, the Welsh Government has worked well with partners in difficult circumstances to accommodate and support Ukrainians. However, in keeping the super sponsor scheme open until June 2022, the Welsh Government prioritised supporting the 1,000 arrivals it said it would during the initial phase. It did this despite the possibility of significantly more Ukrainians actually arriving, as happened. Also, it was over optimistic about how long those arriving would stay in their initial accommodation. These issues added to pressures on public services and led to higher costs than initially expected, despite efforts to secure value for money.

Since the initial phase of the response, the Welsh Government and partners have strengthened their focus on supporting Ukrainians to move out of their initial accommodation. The number in initial accommodation has fallen significantly since the peak in October 2022.