UK Government has made the Crisis and Resilience Fund (CRF) available to local authorities in England:
- to provide a safety net for people who are in crisis and in need of immediate financial help; and
- to support people to build long-term financial resilience for the future.
This fund replaces the previous Household Support Fund.
How the Crisis and Resilience Fund is administered on Scilly
On the Isles of Scilly, our allocation from this fund is being used to support a Crisis Payment scheme, delivered by the Isles of Scilly Charitable Trust and the Richard Addison Charitable Trust.
The Crisis Payment scheme offers support for low-income households who have experienced financial shock, or to prevent them from falling into crisis. A financial shock or crisis may be the result of:
- a disaster (e.g. flood);
- an accident or health emergency;
- a household relationship breakdown;
- an essential item breakdown;
- an unexpected loss of income; or
- something else.
Eligibility for the Crisis Payment scheme
Applicants to the Crisis Payment scheme must be resident on the Isles of Scilly.
The funding is intended for low-income households that do not have significant other resources available to them.
A household will qualify if it meets either of the two criteria below:
- Criteria 1: at least one person in the household is in receipt of a means-tested benefit and the combined readily accessible savings and investments of all adults in the household are below £10,000; or
- Criteria 2: the combined net income of all adults in the household is below £31,000 and the combined readily accessible savings and investments of all adults in the household are below £10,000.
However, an application can still be submitted for a household which does not meet either of these criteria. In this case, an explanation will need to be provided as to why the household’s income and/or savings are insufficient to meet the costs arising from the crisis. The Trusts may ask for evidence to support the information given about financial circumstances.
Further information, including details of the amounts available and information about signposting and referrals to other organisations and services can be found on our Crisis and Resilience Fund webpage.
How to apply to the Crisis Payment scheme
You can submit an application to the Crisis Payment scheme using the application form (shared by both Trusts) on the Charitable Trusts webpage.
If you discuss the matter with our Adult Social Care and Children’s Services teams, by calling 0300 1234 105 and selecting the relevant option, they may be able to submit an application on your behalf.
Whenever possible, the Trusts will aim to make payment within 48 hours of a completed application being submitted.
Help us spread the word
Please help us to spread the word about the Crisis Payment scheme to Isles of Scilly residents. Our social care teams are already signposting those they work with to this scheme, but we also want to ensure that other residents facing a financial crisis are encouraged to apply.
