Fife offers sanctuary to over 300 people fleeing war in Ukraine

Since Russia's invasion of Ukraine in March, refugees have been invited to stay in the UK under the Ukrainian Sponsorship and Family schemes.

The former sets up refugees with hosts in the UK for an initial six months, who receive support from their local council and a stipend of £350.

New figures from the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities show 323 Ukrainian refugee households due in Fife – from 384 successful applications – had arrived in the UK by October 4 under the sponsorship scheme.

This was up from 307 arrivals on September 6, when 372 visas had been issued.

The Scottish government has further sponsored individuals directly through its 'super-sponsor' scheme, which has seen 30,520 visas issued to individuals without a named sponsor in Scotland, of which 16,369 had arrived by October 4.