British public will be asked to take Ukrainian refugees into their homes

The British public will be asked to offer homes to tens of thousands of Ukrainians fleeing the Russian invasion under plans to be announced this weekend.

Ministers will launch a hotline and webpage enabling individuals, charities, businesses and community groups to offer rooms to refugees with no family links to the UK.

The move follows criticism of the Home Office's "chaotic" rollout of its scheme for Ukrainian refugees with family in the UK, which has led to delays and complaints of excessive bureaucracy.

Western officials on Thursday warned that the number of refugees fleeing Ukraine could rise as high as four million in the coming days, almost doubling current estimates of 2.2 million.

It came as Boris Johnson warned that Britons may face a "bumpy period" of economic pain as a result of banning oil and gas imports from Russia. The Prime Minister said the UK would take "dramatic steps" to achieve an "independent energy supply so that we're no longer capable of being blackmailed by Putin".

Household energy support loans could be doubled to £400 in the autumn under plans to help families facing even higher fuel bills because of the Russian invasion.

Mr Johnson has asked Kwasi Kwarteng, the Business Secretary, to draw up a list of options to support families through next winter amid expectations that the energy price cap will rise again in October.

Michael Gove, the Communities Secretary, will unveil the new "sponsored" humanitarian refugee route on Monday. It will grant Ukrainians without family links leave to stay in the UK for an initial 12 months, in which they will be entitled to work, claim benefits and access public services.

Civil servants will match them with offers of free housing from the sponsoring individuals, charities and businesses, who will be vetted to ensure that they are providing safe and secure accommodation.

People offering homes will have to agree to take Ukrainian refugees for a minimum period of potentially six months, demonstrate that the accommodation meets appropriate standards and, if necessary, undergo criminal record checks because many of those fleeing the conflict are likely to be women and children.

Ministers are expected to set targets for the number of offers, and will look to other accommodation providers including councils and housing associations.

"It's going to be tens of thousands initially. If you take a range of 10,000 to 90,000, I would expect it to be at the lower end – 20,000, 30,000, 40,000," said a source.

The Home Office will be responsible for recruiting refugees, who will require visas and have to undergo the same biometric and security checks as those entering through the family scheme.

Priti Patel, the Home Secretary, on Thursday announced that all Ukrainian refugees with passports will be able to apply online to come to the UK after the security services cleared a new streamlined system to cut delays in the visa application process.

Micheal Martin, the Irish taoiseach, said on Thursday that the Home Secretary had expressed concern to the Irish government that its approach to Ukrainian refugees would lead to them arriving in Britain through the back door. Ireland joined the EU-wide scheme that allows people fleeing Ukraine to settle without a visa for three years.

Mr Johnson said earlier this week that the "rooms for refugees" scheme would mean "everybody in this country can offer a home to people fleeing Ukraine".

A source said: "It's a humanitarian call for action. The majority will be doing it out of philanthropic motives."

Refugees at Home, a charity that connects people with spare rooms to refugees, said it had already seen a 50-fold increase since the Russian invasion of Ukraine began, rising from an average of 20 applications a fortnight to 1,000 since Feb 24 as people offered to host Ukrainians fleeing the war.

One healthcare provider in Sussex has offered around 150 rooms across three vacant care homes it manages. Tony Stein, the chief executive of Healthcare Management Solutions, said refugees could be offered jobs in the care sector, where one in five posts are vacant.

"I would like this to be a catalyst for the rest of the sector to look at what they have got and what they can do," he said. "There is a lot of empty property, empty care homes."

Jamie Rogers, who runs an estate agency in Tonbridge, Kent, has made a property available for two Ukrainian families to move into rent-free for six months. "The landlord has agreed to reduce the rent, so we are going to then fund the first six months of support. We'll also support the families from there," he said.

Enver Solomon, chief executive of the Refugee Council, said it was vital that those fleeing Ukraine should have all the support they needed to settle in a new country.

"This doesn't just mean a roof over their head but also specialist help and support to apply for benefits, register with GPs, access to specialist health services, school and childcare places for children and all the other necessary support to help them stabilise their lives,” he said.

"It’s vital anybody coming on the scheme is granted refugee status with all the entitlements that come with that."

Speaking to Sky News, Mr Johnson lambasted Vlaidimir Putin over his "cynical, barbaric government", as he made a "prediction" that Russia was about to resort to using chemical weapons in Ukraine. The Prime Minister said the move was "straight out of their playbook".

He also said Putin had "driven his tank… down a cul de sac" and would find it "very hard to extricate himself" from the war.

Mr Johnson said recent phone calls in which Volodymyr Zelensky, the Ukrainian president, has repeatedly pleaded for the West to impose a no-fly zone over his country had been "deeply upsetting" and "agonising". Nato has said the idea is off the table.

Asked whether Britain would have to accept economic pain while trying to defeat Putin, the Prime Minister said "yes" but insisted the Government "will do everything we can to help households, help people with the cost of fuel, particularly elderly vulnerable people".

He said: "Now is the time to unleash an extraordinary programme of energy independence through massive investment in renewables, a lot more nuclear and also in sensible use of our own hydrocarbons, with our own oil and gas and without busting our carbon budget."

Ofgem has already announced that the price cap will increase next month by 54 per cent, prompting Rishi Sunak, the Chancellor, to launch a £200 loan scheme to help households with their energy bills.

The loan will be delivered in the form of a rebate on bills in October, with households expected to make interest-free payments of £40 per year over the following five years.

But ministers are concerned that another increase in the cost of oil and gas caused by the war in Ukraine will mean the price cap increasing again in October – necessitating further measures.

Experts have speculated that the average household energy bill could reach £4,000 by the end of this year. One plan under consideration is an extension of the loan, with households handed £400 or more in rebates.

Mr Kwarteng is understood to have delivered a range of options to Number 10 this week, with others including a longer repayment period for energy loans or more targeted help for families on lower incomes. Whitehall sources said the plans were not at an advanced stage and would only be activated in the autumn after Ofgem reviews the price cap again.

Britain imports relatively little of its fossil fuel from Russia, but much of Europe is reliant on oil and gas supplies from the country, prompting fears that the wholesale price could spike if supplies are cut off.

This week both the EU and the Kremlin have threatened to sever their relationship over the Ukraine conflict, but the Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline from northeastern Russia to northwestern Germany was still running on Thursday night.

Any further Treasury support for households will trigger concern over Britain's finances, with Mr Sunak forced to continue support packages despite his pledge to reduce borrowing.

Food is also expected to become more expensive after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, with wheat prices reaching record levels. Ukraine is a major European producer of wheat and grain.