Crisis support

The Crisis and Resilience Fund (CRF) has now launched by the Government and provides assistance for low income households who are experiencing a financial shock, or at risk of falling into crisis.

The CRF will provide needs based support with essentials such as food, energy, housing costs and essential transport related costs. It will also provide funding for voluntary and community organisations that offer financial advice, digital support, and wider help for those households who are facing difficulties meeting their everyday essential living costs. Support will focus on four areas:

  • Crisis payments for urgent financial needs
  • Housing support, delivered by District Councils
  • Financial resilience services to help residents budget, manage money and avoid future crises
  • Community funding to strengthen local support networks

From April to June 2026, Hampshire County Council, will work in partnership with Citizens Advice to deliver the scheme and enable individuals, if eligible, to be able to access support. A longer term scheme is being developed and will be launched over the Summer 2026.

Eligibility

Individuals can apply if they:

  • Live full time in Hampshire (please note that Southampton City, Portsmouth City and the Isle of Wight Councils operate their own schemes).
  • Are facing financial hardship:  Applicants must be experiencing a crisis, such as inability to pay for essentials (e.g. food or fuel) or have a sudden loss of income.
  • Have an immediate need, primarily for unexpected events such as appliance failure or emergency housing needs.
  • Have an adult in the household that is currently entitled to a means tested, passporting benefit, including Universal Credit, Pension Credit (Guarantee Credit), or Housing Benefit OR
  • Have a low household income after paying essential living costs.
  • Can evidence they are a household that does not have sufficient resources to resolve the immediate crisis without going without essentials, incurring unmanageable debt, or exacerbating financial harm.
  • Have limited access to savings (less than £6,000).
Information you will need to provide

When you apply you will be asked for:

  • Financial information, such as bank statements from the last month, recent income details, and any savings.
  • Photo identification and proof of address.
  • Proof of crisis – for example quote for repairs of white goods, letter of redundancy, bill for car repairs.
How to apply

To apply for support please contact their local Citizens Advice service

If your application is successful Citizens Advice will work with you to provide the right level of support. If you are eligible, payments will be made in a variety of ways including vouchers that can be exchanged for cash at the Post Office, or PayPoint vouchers that can be ‘cashed in’ at stores running a PayPoint scheme. 

 
Housing costs

Support might be available in certain circumstances with housing costs.

District and borough councils will be supporting vulnerable households with exceptional housing costs, where existing housing support schemes do not meet need, and for cases of genuine emergency.

To apply for support with housing costs, or for more information, contact your local borough, city or district council.

 
Questions
If you have any questions please contact the CRF team by email: [email protected]