More than half of almost 1,000 Ukrainians who came to Dorset under the Homes for Ukraine programme have now left the scheme – along with a similar number of local hosts.

About a quarter of the 537 who have now left the government-sponsored scheme have returned to Ukraine.

More than half of the 537 have moved from living with host families into independent accommodation, eight per cent have left the UK to go to other countries, and a further five per cent have transferred to a Homes for Ukraine scheme in other local authority areas.

Dorset currently has 440 Ukraine guests staying with 191 local host households, with 36 planning to arrive.

Host families were initially asked to offer homes for a minimum of six months and while some have continued to host beyond that period 69 families have been rematched with new hosts, with 27 families currently in the process of being found new hosts. Two families are in temporary accommodation.

A report for Dorset Council says the authority has struggled to meet the needs of unaccompanied asylum-seeking children which the government says it has to take under a formula based on the number of children in the county.

Many of these children and young people come from countries other than Ukraine, including Afghanistan, Syria and Libya.

Of the current 57 unaccompanied school-age children which Dorset Council is responsible for, all but nine placed in neighbouring counties, or further away.

Out of a further 50 older young people, classed as 'care leavers', generally over the age of 18, only 13 are living in Dorset.

Weekly meetings are being held by the council to try and resolve the situation, working with partner organisations.

Dorset Council says that since 2016, its resettlement team has catered for almost 130 Syrian and Afghan refugees and is currently directly supporting 12 families.

Five Afghan families have arrived since July 2022 and, with the imminent closure of all Home Office Afghan bridging accommodation, the authority is expecting to welcome a further four Afghan families by December.

Under the Homes for Ukraine scheme Dorset Council received £8.4million from the government to provide support to hosts and guests over a period of three years.

Further government funding has been made available to obtain housing for those who are unable to find settled accommodation on resettlement schemes which, in Dorset, should enable the purchase of 30 properties mainly for Ukrainian and Afghan families.

Councillors are being told that both the UK Resettlement scheme and the Afghan resettlement programmes are fully grant funded with the grant received by Dorset sufficient to support the delivery of the programme until the end of the scheme.

But a report to a committee in the coming days warns: "There continues to be a shortfall in the amount received for caring for unaccompanied asylum-seeking children and in especially in supporting them as care leavers.

"This is being raised nationally as an issue both by Dorset Council, the Local Government Association and the Association of Directors of Children's Services. The council is also exploring multiple options to reduce costs through the creation of more local provision."