Help with the cost of living from your local council (GOV.UK, England)
This page explains the Crisis and Resilience Fund: help from your local council with essential costs such as food, energy and water bills, essential items and housing costs. It sends you to your council to ask.
Good to know
You do not have to be getting benefits to get help from your local council, and if you get benefits, a payment from the fund will not affect them. Councils decide how to run their schemes, so eligibility and how you apply differ, and some limit household applications to one a year. If you live in Scotland or Wales, the page names the Scottish Welfare Fund and the Discretionary Assistance Fund instead.
Before you call
Have ready
- your postcode: the page's 'Check with your local council' link goes to the GOV.UK council finder
They can
- tell you what the Crisis and Resilience Fund is, and that you do not have to be getting benefits to get help from your local council
- send you to the GOV.UK finder for your local council, which decides how its scheme runs
They cannot
- take your application or pay you: you apply to your own council, which decides eligibility, whether and how you apply, and who the money goes to
- tell you what your council offers: the page says to check with your local council
In the emergency guides: My benefits were stopped, cut or refused → · A flood, fire or storm hit my home → · I just lost my job → · I have no money for food → · I got a shutoff notice →
- Website
- https://www.gov.uk/cost-living-help-local-council
- Hours
- Website, any time
- Coverage
- England
- Languages
- English
- Last checked
- October 10, 2026
See something out of date or wrong? Tell us by email.
Shared by FindAngel.org — free, always · https://findangel.org/resources/uk-council-cost-of-living-help/