If you cannot afford food, fuel or essential household items, your local council may be able to help. This starter guide explains how welfare assistance schemes work and how to apply.
Need to know
- Council-run welfare assistance schemes offer grants, vouchers or practical help with food, fuel and essentials, and grants do not have to be repaid.
- Each part of the UK runs crisis support under a different name and every council sets its own rules, so what is available and who qualifies varies from area to area.
- You do not have to be claiming benefits to apply, but schemes are discretionary, rules vary by area and some councils limit how often a household can apply, for example once a year.
- Payments from the Crisis and Resilience Fund do not affect your benefits, unlike benefit advances and hardship payments, which are repaid through deductions.
- Check your council’s website for its scheme and gather documents such as your National Insurance number, bank statements and payslips before starting the form.
When an essential cost lands and the money to cover it is not there, borrowing is not the only option. Councils across the UK run welfare assistance and hardship schemes that can provide grants, vouchers or practical help with food, fuel and household basics. This guide explains how those schemes work, who they are meant for and how to put an application together.
What Local Welfare Assistance Is and Where It Came From
Local welfare assistance is support provided by your local council for people who cannot afford essentials and have nowhere else to turn. The help usually takes the form of a grant, which means money, vouchers or goods you do not have to pay back.
Most schemes are discretionary. That means there is no automatic legal right to an award: the council looks at each application and decides whether to help, based on its own rules and the budget it has. You can meet the criteria and still be refused if money has run low.
In England, the funding behind this support has changed shape. The Household Support Fund, delivered by local authorities and funded by central government, existed in its current form from October 2021 and was extended repeatedly until March 2026. It has since been replaced by the Crisis and Resilience Fund, and payments from it are often called Crisis Payments. Scotland and Wales run their own standing schemes.
| Where you live | Name of the support | Who runs it |
|---|---|---|
| England | Crisis and Resilience Fund, including Crisis Payments and local welfare assistance | Your local council |
| Scotland | Scottish Welfare Fund, including crisis grants | Your local council |
| Wales | Discretionary Assistance Fund | Your local council |
Councils decide how to run their own schemes, so what is on offer differs from area to area. Some councils pass funding to local charities and community organisations rather than paying people directly, and some restrict each household to a single application in a year. Your own council can tell you what exists where you live.
What Schemes Typically Help With
The details vary, but most schemes focus on the same core needs: food, fuel and essential household items. A council scheme might provide any of the following:
- referrals to food banks and other local organisations
- cash, bank transfers or vouchers to help with the cost of food
- financial help with fuel and water costs, or fuel vouchers if you have a prepayment meter, a meter you top up with credit before you can use the energy
- cash or vouchers for other essentials such as bedding, furniture, household goods and warm clothing
- help with sudden unexpected costs that are essential but fit none of the categories above
Where a council provides Crisis Payments, government guidance encourages a cash-first approach, prioritising bank transfers and cash-out vouchers so people can choose what to buy. Crisis Payments can be used for essential furniture and appliances: beds, bedding and mattresses, tables and chairs, sofas, wardrobes, carpets or flooring, curtains or blinds, washing machines, fridges and freezers, and cookers or ovens.
Some schemes are narrower. One council’s local welfare assistance fund does not give out cash at all, only referrals such as to the local food bank. Funding is limited everywhere, so awards are usually restricted to the minimum needed to deal with the immediate hardship. Some councils also help in specific situations, such as rent in advance to secure a property when there is a serious risk to someone’s health or safety.
Who Can Apply and What Councils Look For
The Crisis and Resilience Fund is aimed at anyone who is vulnerable or cannot pay for essentials, and you do not have to be claiming benefits to get help. What each council checks, and how strictly, is up to it.
There are common threads. You will normally need to show you live in the area the scheme covers. Councils will look at your income, your savings and whether you could get help elsewhere first. In Scotland, having savings or another source of help can count against a crisis grant application, and if you hold capital assets worth more than £16,000 you will generally be expected to raise money from them.
Some councils publish exact thresholds. As one example, a Crisis Payment scheme in Suffolk requires an annual household income of £30,000 or less for single households, or £36,000 or less for couples, after tax, and household savings below £1,500, or below £6,000 if you are 66 or older. That scheme allows only one award per household in a 6-month period. In Scotland, the normal limit is 3 crisis grants in any 12 months, and a fresh application for the same items is refused if it comes within 28 days of the earlier one, unless something has changed, such as a new emergency.
Some exclusions are common too. You may be unable to apply if you have no recourse to public funds, which means your immigration status does not allow you to claim most benefits. Some councils will not help with mortgage or leasehold arrears. Councils also expect you to show that you cannot access any other form of financial help.
How to Apply and What Evidence to Prepare
Start with your council’s website: search for welfare assistance, crisis payments or hardship support, or ask your local council directly. Most councils take applications through an online form. One council says its webform takes around 15 minutes if you have everything ready, and some forms cannot be saved partway through, so gather what you need first.
Evidence commonly requested includes:
- your National Insurance number, the reference used to record your tax and benefits, which some schemes cannot process an application without
- proof of your identity
- bank statements, which some schemes require for every employed adult in the household
- payslips, if you work
- proof of any benefits you receive
If you are asked for proof of benefits or bank statements and do not provide them within the processing timescale, some councils will reject the application outright. If you cannot apply online yourself, alternatives exist: one council lets people complete the form in its libraries with staff help, and Citizens Advice can help you make an application if you are unable to do it yourself.
After you apply, the council assesses your application and may contact you to discuss your circumstances. Urgent cases, such as people with an immediate need for food, are often prioritised. Some schemes ask something of you afterwards: under one Crisis Payment scheme, anyone awarded money must take part in sessions with their local Citizens Advice, which offers practical guidance to lower the chance of another crisis, and not taking part can mean future applications are refused.
Helpful step
Check which documents your council asks for before you start the form. If the application cannot be saved and returned to, having bank statements, payslips and your National Insurance number ready saves you from starting again.
If Your Application Is Refused or Nothing Suitable Is Offered
A refusal is not the end of the road. Councils can take different views of the same circumstances, and a second route often exists.
Other things to check:
- council tax support, a reduction on your council tax bill for people whose income is low or who receive particular benefits
- a discretionary housing payment, available in Scotland and Wales, which can help with a shortfall in housing costs if you get a qualifying benefit
- food banks, fuel vouchers and grants from your energy supplier if you are behind on bills or struggling to top up a prepayment meter
- local charities and community organisations, which some councils fund directly to deliver crisis support
One point worth knowing: going through a crisis does not mean you should have to resort to costly credit, such as payday loans or doorstep loans, to pay for day-to-day essentials. If borrowing does turn out to be necessary, cheaper options exist. Our guide to alternatives to payday loans sets out what to consider first, and credit union loans, which are offered by not-for-profit financial cooperatives, are a lower-cost way to borrow.
National Help That Works Alongside Local Grants
Council support is not the only source of help, and some national help is designed to work alongside it.
If you are waiting for a first benefit payment, you may be able to get an advance, which is money paid early that you then pay back. The Department for Work and Pensions takes an amount off your future payments until the advance is cleared. For Universal Credit you can spread the repayments over 24 months; for other benefits you will usually repay over 12 weeks. Our guide to Budgeting Loans and Advances explains this interest-free help with essential costs in more detail.
If your Universal Credit has been cut because of a sanction, a hardship payment may be available. It is a loan, so you will usually have to pay it back when the sanction ends, normally through monthly deductions from your Universal Credit. It is intended to cover you until your next Universal Credit payday, and if you are still in hardship the following month you would need to apply for another one.
When schools break up for the holidays, some councils also provide food vouchers for families with children, and there is separate support with energy bills, including fuel vouchers and grants from suppliers.
What Receiving a Grant Does and Does Not Affect
Grants and loans are treated very differently, and it matters which type of help you have been given. Some schemes award money that does not have to be paid back, such as the crisis grants available through the Scottish Welfare Fund. Advances and hardship payments sit at the other end: they are loans rather than grants, and they are recovered through deductions from future benefit payments. Knowing which type of help you have received tells you whether anything will be taken off your payments later.
How any award is treated alongside the benefits you already get depends on the scheme and your circumstances, so it is worth confirming the position with the council that made the award before you plan around the money.
Local schemes are also built for a moment, not an income. Crisis Payments exist to meet a one-off emergency, not to stand in for a regular income, and local welfare assistance is not designed to provide long-term support. If the underlying problem is that your income does not cover your outgoings, a grant may bridge this month, but checking your benefit entitlement and getting free debt advice will do more for the months that follow. Our guide to borrowing from family or friends explains how to keep any informal loan clear and fair.
A sensible first step: find your local council’s welfare assistance or crisis payment page and note what it covers and which documents it asks for, so you are ready to apply if the need arises.
Your questions answered
Q: Do I have to pay back a local welfare assistance grant?
A: No. Grants, vouchers and goods from these schemes do not have to be repaid. Benefit advances and hardship payments are different, because they are loans recovered from future benefit payments.
Q: Can I apply if I am working and not on benefits?
A: Yes. The Crisis and Resilience Fund is there for people who are vulnerable or cannot meet the cost of essentials, and you do not have to be getting benefits. Councils set their own income and savings rules, so check your local scheme.
Q: How often can I apply?
A: It depends on the scheme. Some councils allow one award per household in a 6-month period. Scottish rules normally cap crisis grants at 3 in any 12 months and rule out a second grant for the same items within 28 days.
Q: What if my council cannot help?
A: Councils run their own schemes and some deliver support through charities and community groups. You can still check council tax support, food banks, fuel vouchers and energy supplier grants, and free advice services can point you to other local options.
This guide is general information, not financial advice. Late repayment can cause you serious money problems. For help, go to moneyhelper.org.uk. We don’t arrange loans or work with lenders. Before borrowing, check the lender is authorised on the FCA register, and consider free debt advice from MoneyHelper, StepChange, National Debtline or Citizens Advice.