The Crisis and Resilience Fund
Crisis Payments
Support can be offered to low-income households to:
- help individuals who have experienced financial shock. A financial shock is a sudden, unexpected expense or drop in income, that can place pressure on their budget and wellbeing.
- prevent individuals from entering crisis. Providing timely support so that people can manage pressures, maintain control and avoid being pushed into crisis or prevent crises from escalating.
It is important to note that Crisis Payments are intended to meet occasional or short-term needs and therefore, cannot provide an alternative source of regular income.
You will only receive a Crisis Payment if your household suddenly gets less money, stops getting money, or must pay for something unexpected.
To qualify for support, households need to demonstrate a low-income. As a guide this would be less than £30,000 a year for a single income household or less than £40,000 for a joint income household. This includes all benefits, including disability benefits, salaries and any other income for all adults in the household.
What crisis situations can we support with under this scheme?
A crisis is a circumstance of pressing need which requires immediate action to prevent or remedy negative outcomes. This could include, but is not limited to, people going without material essentials such as food, shelter, heating, essential items such as furniture and appliances or services such as water or energy.
A financial shock such as a car or household appliance breaking down, a bus route being cut or an unexpected bill, can be the tipping point that leaves a household in crisis. Some examples of crises under the CRF are:
- disaster - these are unforeseen and result in significant damage to possessions or property (such as serious fire, flood, explosion etc)
- accident, health emergency or mental health crisis – leading to unplanned spending
- household or relationship breakdown – leading to sudden reduced income
- domestic abuse - where immediate help is needed to move to alternative safe accommodation
- breakage of an essential item – such as medical equipment, boiler
- breakage of an essential item – white goods
- lack of essential appliances or furniture – for those moving into new unfurnished accommodation
- gap in income - a short-term gap in income, for example, due to redundancy or unexpected reduction in benefits
Please note: if you require support with white goods, essential appliances or essential furniture, you will need to be referred for support by a professional partner like a Housing Officer or Swindon Citizens Advice.
What are we NOT able to support with a Crisis Payment?
Here are some examples of what the CRF is unable to support:
- A crisis that happened in the past and is not being experienced now, for example something that occurred months ago
- Ongoing low income or long-term financial hardship without a crisis event – help would be available under our resilience services to support in this area
- Lack of money for birthdays / Christmas / holidays / luxury items – these are examples of non-essential expenditure which would not qualify for a crisis payment
- Repayment of debt or arrears – advice and support may be available under our resilience services with this
- Applications where there is large amounts of non-essential expenditure, for example, excessive use of gambling sites, restaurants, pubs and clubs
- Someone experiencing a crisis listed above, but who has the means to manage this using savings or existing income. Crisis Payments are only for those with no means to resolve the crisis.
For support with income maximisation, managing your bills and other support to boost your finances, please check our cost of living webpage.
Applying for a Crisis Payment
If you have experienced a financial shock or are currently experiencing a crisis, use the application form below to apply.
Ensure you fully detail the financial shock that has pushed you into crisis as, without this, your application will not proceed.
Please note: in order to apply for support, you will need to have a registered My Swindon Account. If you are unable to register for a My Swindon Account, you may wish to visit one of our Community Hubs to get some in-person support to apply for assistance.
Important update
Due to a nationwide increase in fraudulent applications for Crisis Payments, we must request specific information. Without this we will be unable to progress applications.
Please ensure you provide the following information as part of your application:
- Evidence of a crisis (for example a letter of redundancy, quote for repairs, proof of purchase for essential spend, police crime reference number for theft)
- Two months of bank statements for every bank account held by each adult in the household
- Evidence of a breakdown of any benefits received by adults in the household
- Photo identification
- Proof of address
- Recent utility bill
If you do not submit the required supporting documentation, your application will be refused and you will need to apply again.
If your application is accepted, you will receive a one-off crisis payment and may be referred for additional services to improve your financial resilience.
Please note: This payment may be in the form of a supermarket or cash voucher, or possibly by payment into a bank account. We will collect your bank account details through the application process, so please be vigilant if you receive any separate communication asking to provide this information or asking to pay any money to consider any application. If you receive any communication asking you to do so, be assured it is not from us and can be ignored. We are aware fraudsters may operate in this way.
Apply for support through Swindon Crisis and Resilience Fund
If you have any difficulty completing this application online, we recommend you visit one of our Community Hubs where colleagues will be able to assist you to make an application. If you cannot apply online and are unable to get to a Community Hub, contact Customer Services on 01793 445500 who will pass your details to our Live Well Team who will contact you to support you to apply.
Please note: This is not an emergency response fund. Applications will take some time to consider. Once all the required information is received, we will process the application as quickly as possible. Do not contact us to ask what is happening with your application as this only causes further delays. If you’re struggling to afford enough food, call Citizens Advice on 0808 278 7813 between 10.00am and 4.00pm, Monday to Friday, to discuss options based on your circumstances, which could include a referral to the food bank in Swindon.