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For the rest of June, the Welsh Government has announced that a “temporary operational pause” will be in place on new applicants from Ukraine who are looking to be housed in Wales under the “Homes for Ukraine” and “Super Sponsor” schemes.

The “pause” will begin from the 10th June and is set to take place indefinitely. Social Justice Minister Jane Hutt explained “this temporary pause will give us the opportunity to refine the arrangements we have put in place to support people on arrival and ensure all public services, in particular local authorities, can continue to deliver a high standard of support.”

Though the conservatives may have dubbed this decision a “failure”, many are celebrating this halt of the project, citing that this virtue -signalling campaign by the Welsh Government to house Ukrainians using the taxpayer’s money with no referendum is “utterly appalling”. However, is it too early to celebrate? From the statement given by Jane Hutt it’s looking like this project will be back in a couple of months.

Recently announced by the Home Office, and which we explained in an earlier article which can be found here, more than 100,000 visas have been granted to Ukrainian Refugees in the whole of the UK, with 2,000 of them being housed in Wales under the “Homes for Ukraine” scheme.

The “Homes for Ukraine” scheme enables people to let Ukrainians live with them for a specified amount of time, whereas, the “Super Sponsor” joint initiative between Scotland and Wales refers to the Government’s plan to give Ukrainian Refugees financial support, accommodation and other forms of care (such as access to the NHS for free and free bus passes which even Welsh citizens can’t get unless they are over the age of 60 and the Assembly even wanted to remove that a while ago).

Furthermore, as part of the “Super Sponsor” enterprise (with the following numbers applying to Wales only and not Scotland), there have been 5,668 confirmed applications which will have 2,866 being “super sponsored” by the Welsh Government and the rest sponsored by Welsh citizens. Of those applicants, 4,909 visas were issued to those with a sponsor in Wales, with 2,453 being sponsored by the Welsh Government. Overall, 1,961 people with sponsors in Wales have arrived, with 480 having the Welsh Government as a super sponsor.