The Crisis and Resilience Fund is the Government’s replacement for the Household Support Fund and Discretionary Housing Payments and will be in operation for at least the next three years.

It is not a direct replacement, as the Household Support Fund was focused on supporting residents with the cost of living, whilst the new fund is focused on financial crisis and building resilience to stop it happening again.

It is designed to:

• help people manage sudden or unexpected expenses or a loss of income
• support longer-term financial resilience

Liverpool City Council has been working with partners and local organisations to design a new approach to supporting residents facing crisis situations. This work has been developed with council services, charities, and community organisations including Feeding Liverpool, Citizens Advice Liverpool, End Furniture Poverty and LATAN (Liverpool Access to Advice Network), to ensure the approach reflects real experiences and needs. This has helped shape a more joined-up and practical system of support for people who need help most.

By working collaboratively, the aim is to make it easier for residents to access the right support at the right time, particularly in urgent or complex situations.

There will be an emphasis on supporting households with income maximisation, debt support, budgeting, employment links and community-based wellbeing activity to help them improve their financial security so they are better equipped to withstand unexpected expenses or a reduction in income.

The Crisis and Resilience Fund has four components:

Crisis payments – emergency cash-first support for urgent essential needs

Housing payments – short-term financial support faces a shortfall for rent, deposits or tenancy-set up costs

Resilience services – to help with budgeting, debt support, employment and digital skills

Community co-ordination – work between agencies to support households and service directories

The report will be considered by the Cabinet at a meeting on Tuesday 14 April.

Deputy Council Leader and Cabinet Member for Finance, Resources and Transformation, Cllr Ruth Bennett, said:

“Liverpool has a proud tradition of supporting our most vulnerable households and the new Crisis and Resilience Fund gives us certainty in terms of the amount of funding we have over the next three years.

“Families in crisis will continue to be supported but we also want to change the system so that it puts our residents in a stronger position to handle unexpected financial problems. This could include support with debt advice, help with budgeting, supporting them into employment and digital skills to enable them to get easier access to services.

“It is in addition to other initiatives from the Government such as lifting the two-child benefit cap which we estimate will benefit 6,835 households on Universal Credit in Liverpool.

“When coupled with the expansion of free school meals to all families who receive Universal Credit from September – worth around £500 per child, per year – it will be putting money directly into the pockets of families. In Liverpool we are also auto-enrolling pupils on to free school meals, ensuring that an additional 550 households benefit. This also delivers a financial boost for schools who receive at least an additional £1,000 per child in Pupil Premium payments.

“We also continue to provide the Council Tax Support scheme, which remains one of the most generous in the country, alongside the funding we provide to community and voluntary sector organisations.”