No Ukrainian refugees in east Berkshire have been left without a home, councils have claimed – despite figures showing some were found ‘at risk’ of homelessness.

Figures obtained via Freedom of Information requests to both Slough and Royal Borough councils have shown that a total of 18 Ukrainian refugees were deemed at formal risk of homelessness across both local authority patches.

Just one of these was in Slough, with the other 17 being in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead (RBWM).

However, considerably more Ukrainian refugees had taken up residency in Windsor and Maidenhead since the start of the Russian invasion in February 2022 according to the figures.

The data shows that 380 refugees moved to RBWM under the Homes for Ukraine scheme, compared to just 100 in Slough.

Homes for Ukraine invites UK residents to become sponsors by offering accommodation for Ukrainians fleeing the ongoing war.

RBWM housing lead councillor Catherine del Campo told the Local Democracy Reporting Service that the “vast majority” of placements under the scheme have been successful.

She said: “Like the rest of the UK, we have seen a few cases – by far in the minority – where unfortunately placements have ended early, due usually to changing circumstances or individual aspirations of hosts and/or guests, including changing financial circumstances.

“While this means they were placed temporarily ‘at risk’ of homelessness, no Ukrainian within the scheme locally has been left without housing.”

Councillor del Campo added that some refugees were re-matched with alternate hosts, while others made their own arrangements and that the council offered temporary housing and other support where needed.

The figures further suggested that sponsors were more likely to end placements than the refugees themselves.

In the Royal Borough, 20 hosts contacted the authority to ask to end their placement or leave the scheme, as opposed to just five refugees. No refugees at all made the same request in Slough, while two sponsors did so.

A Slough Borough Council spokesperson noted that their numbers of refugees had been smaller due to relatively few people expressing interest in hosting.

They added: “Our objective is to have supported our Ukrainian households to be in a good position to help themselves if the current government grant position changes.

“For the one person/family deemed at risk of homelessness in Slough, they were supported to find alternative accommodation before they did become homeless.

"We are committed to preventing homelessness for all residents through a variety of actions, and this is a good example of where that was successful.”

The figures showed that 718 people volunteered to sponsor Ukrainian refugees in RBWM, while 90 expressed initial interest in Slough.

Of these volunteers, 276 sponsors were assigned a refugee or refugees in the Royal Borough. In Slough, that figure was just 31.

The SBC spokesperson added: “Although we do have a number of medium and large houses in Slough, for the most part these are home to large, often multi-generational households and there are no spare bedrooms to host a Ukrainian family.”

Residents who wish to register their interest in Home for Ukraine can do so here.