Crisis and Resilience Fund | Shropshire Council

The Crisis and Resilience Fund provides grant funding to local authorities in England to provide preventative support to communities, as well as assisting people when faced with a financial crisis. This scheme runs from 1 April 2026 to 31 March 2029 and is funded by central government through the Department for Work & Pensions (DWP) as a replacement to the Household Support Fund.

Shropshire Council has been awarded a yearly grant of £3.67 million from this scheme. The fund is intended to support a wide range of low-income households and, as such, crisis payments are not limited to those in receipt of benefits.

Shropshire Council and partner organisations are continuing to work together to ensure that people most in need are supported with this funding, in line with guidance set out by the government.

The fund can be used to support households with:

Food
Water including for drinking, washing, cooking, as well as for sanitary purposes and sewerage
Housing costs
Period and hygiene products such as soap and toothpaste
Energy for any form of fuel that is used for the purpose of domestic heating, cooking or lighting, including oil or portable gas cylinders
Clothing including uniform, warm winter clothing and shoes
Essential furniture and appliances such as beds and bedding, washing machines, window coverings and carpets, fridge-freezers and ovens
Essential transport-related costs such as repairing a car, buying a bicycle or bus pass or paying for fuel
Digital and connectivity essentials such as broadband or phone bills

The fund is intended to cover a wide range of low-income households in need, including families with children of all ages, pensioners, unpaid carers, care leavers and people with disabilities, larger families, single-person households, and those struggling with one-off financial shocks or unforeseen events.

Crisis payments

For further/detailed information please visit our Welfare Support Fund team page.

If you’re struggling to meet some of your essential living costs, we may be able to help from our local welfare provision funding. Local welfare provision, including the new Crisis and Resilience Fund, is funding managed by local authorities to help families under exceptional pressure.

Crisis payments are intended to meet occasional or short-term needs and can't be used to give someone an alternative source of regular income. They offer support to low-income households who have experienced financial shock. A financial shock is a sudden, unexpected expense or drop in income, that can place pressure on someone’s budget and wellbeing.

If you believe you're eligible, and require support, you can call us on 0345 678 9078 (and select option 2) between the following times:

8.45am and 5pm on a Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday
Or between 10am and 5pm on a Wednesday, to make an application

We'll gather some basic information from you about your circumstances (including your household, your income and savings) and will ask you what help you need. We’ll also ask you to send in your most recent bank transaction statements for each account you hold. This helps us to prove your identity, understand what essential costs you are struggling to pay for and why, and to signpost you to support that may be available to you. If you don’t provide this information, your application will be closed as incomplete.

If you are unable to apply via phone, and don't have anyone who can help you to do this, please email us on localsupport@shropshire.gov.uk and we will discuss options regarding how to apply.

Please note that the Crisis and Resilience Fund replaces the Household Support Fund from 1 April 2026. The new crisis payments made under part of this new scheme will provide help with similar items, so if you had an application with us that was undecided by 31 March 2026, we'll contact you to see if you're happy with the application being considered for a crisis payment under the Crisis and Resilience Fund instead.

Council tax relief

Eligible working age households currently on council tax relief (CTR) support who would be subject to the 20% minimum payment will receive a direct award made to their account of £80 for the year 2026/27. This amount will automatically be added – if eligible, you don't need to do anything.

If you require further support with your council tax or are not eligible for this specific award, you can find more information on support on our website.

Free school meals

The Crisis and Resilience Fund will continue to provide free school meals (FSM) holiday vouchers for the Easter and May half-terms. This is applicable to children in receipt of eligible benefits-related FSM on roll in Shropshire schools and children in receipt of 24U funding and Early Years Pupil Premium in early years settings.

Information on the 2026 summer holiday window and for the next school year (September 2026 onwards) will be communicated once more details are available.

If you’re on a low income and you think you could be eligible for free school meals, please visit our free school meals pages

Housing payments

From the 1 April 2026 Discretionary Housing Payments (DHP’s) have been merged with the Crisis and Resilience Fund. Please note that as we transition to the news scheme, we may temporarily refer to this support as DHP, this will not impact any support you may receive.

If you had an application for this support that was in progress before the 1 April 2026, you do not need to reapply.

For further information on these payments contact our Revenues & Benefits team via 03456 789002 and then select option 3.

Alternatively, you can apply online below.

How to apply

You can make an application online. If you need any further information about applying for a DHP, please email dhp@shropshire.gov.uk.

Resilience support

Further programmes and support schemes are in development with partner organisations. These webpages will be updated when information on these schemes is available.

Ongoing support is available through the following services:

Community coordination

Shropshire Council are currently developing proposals and plans for support schemes with the Voluntary, Charity and Social Enterprise (VCSE) sector. Information on these schemes will be shared as and when they launch, so please watch this space.