A NEW survey of councils in England reveals that just two per cent believe the £842-million-a-year Crisis and Resilience Fund (CRF) will be sufficient to meet the local welfare needs of their residents to a great extent.

The recent survey by the Local Government Association (LGA) sought the views of councils in England on the design of the new fund and other aspects of local welfare provision. Two thirds of respondents reported they had seen households’ financial hardship increase in the last year and expected this trend to continue.

Councils are currently engaging with government on the design of the new fund due to replace the existing council-delivered Household Support Fund (HSF) and Discretionary Housing Payments (DHP) from April 2026. The multi-year CRF will combine emergency support and preventative approaches with the aim of building greater financial resilience among households and communities.

The HSF provides a vital source of funding for councils to provide crisis support to families at risk of immediate hardship, both through cash-first support and as vouchers and in-kind support, as well as funding longer-term financial resilience support such as debt advice. DHP enables councils to provide additional financial support to people who are struggling to meet their housing costs.

Over two thirds of surveyed councils were in favour of a new fully funded statutory requirement for local advice provision, and nearly half of upper tier councils surveyed have an additional local welfare scheme in place to support the poorest households.

Councils said they recognise the potential benefits of bringing the two funds together and the commitment from government to putting funding for local welfare provision on a more sustainable footing. However, some expressed concerns about tight delivery timelines, funding adequacy and the administrative burden of introducing the new fund.