Thousands of British families who have offered sanctuary to Ukrainian refugees were stuck in a massive backlog last night.
More than 25,000 completed applications have been submitted to the Homes for Ukraine scheme – meaning a high number of Britons have matched themselves up with evacuees.
But Government sources said so far only 1,000 visas have been approved.
And the number of refugees who have reached Britain through the scheme is even smaller, with one source putting it at 'dozens'.
That is a fraction of what ministers promised, showing the programme is seriously behind schedule.
More than 200,000 Britons have volunteered to help through Homes for Ukraine which offers hosts £350-a-month from the Government as a 'thank you' for taking in refugees for a minimum of six months.
Oxford classics don Alfonso Moreno (right), 49, and his family have been matched up with logistics worker Mariia Makliudova (left), 27, who fled Kyiv with relatives
Refugees minister Lord Harrington told MPs this month he expected 'thousands' of evacuees would arrive by now.
Britons who volunteered to take refugees after the scheme opened on March 14 yesterday described their anger and frustration at delays.
One immigration insider told the Mail: 'There haven't been the thousands of arrivals in this country that were predicted by ministers. In fact, there's only been a trickle of perhaps dozens...It's just all very, very slow.'
A Government source said: 'The number of visas awarded so far is not what we would have liked. Things are now moving more quickly and will continue to ramp up significantly, but we can't predict when the rest of the 25,000 applications will be cleared.'
Of the more than 200,000 Britons who have volunteered to help, the 25,000 completed applications will have seen hosts pair up with refugees through social media or existing friendships.
Ministers are under pressure to reveal how much delay is being caused by civil servants still working from home, but a Government spokesman yesterday insisted 'hardly any' were doing this.
The number of visas given to refugees through another scheme for those with family connections in the UK rose sharply this week. A total of 20,100 visas had been approved through the Ukraine Family Scheme by Thursday with the Home Office finalising an average 2,500 a day.
Here we reveal some of the families who have offered to open
