If you or someone you know relied on the Household Support Fund for emergency help with food, energy bills or essential items, that scheme closed in March 2026. The government did not renew it.
In its place, Kingston upon Thames Council has introduced the Crisis and Resilience Fund, which will run from 2026 to 2029. The name is new. The need is not.
The question residents should be asking is simple: is the replacement actually better — or just rebranded?
The Crisis and Resilience Fund is Kingston Council's new locally administered scheme to provide emergency financial assistance to residents facing acute hardship. Unlike the Household Support Fund, which was wholly funded by central government grant, the Crisis and Resilience Fund draws on local council resources — meaning it sits alongside a 2026/27 budget already under significant pressure.
The council is projecting an £18 million budget gap over the four years to 2030, and holds £14.2 million in reserves. That context matters when assessing how sustainable this fund is over its three-year lifespan.
The Crisis and Resilience Fund is means-tested and intended for residents in genuine financial crisis. Eligibility is broadly based on the following criteria:
You may qualify if you:
You are unlikely to qualify if you:
The fund is not a general hardship grant. It is designed for crisis moments — an unexpected utility disconnection, a broken cooker in a household with young children, a sudden loss of income that leaves a family without food before the next benefit payment arrives.
The council retains discretion on individual awards. There is no absolute entitlement.
Crisis payments under the fund can cover a range of essential needs, including:
Payments are typically made in-kind (vouchers or direct supplier payments) rather than as cash transfers. This is consistent with how the Household Support Fund operated, but worth knowing if you were expecting a bank transfer.
Applications for the Crisis and Resilience Fund are handled through Kingston Council's welfare support team.
Step 1 — Contact the council directly. The starting point is Kingston's Customer Services team, reachable through the council's main website at kingston.gov.uk. There is an online referral route, but residents in acute crisis can also call the council directly during office hours.
Step 2 — Referrals are also accepted. Social workers, housing officers, GPs, foodbank workers and other frontline professionals can refer residents on their behalf. If you work with vulnerable residents in Kingston, this referral route may be quicker than self-referral in some cases.
Step 3 — Provide supporting information. You will typically need to explain the nature of your crisis, your current income and benefit status, and what help you are seeking. The council may ask for evidence, though the process is designed to be accessible under pressure.
Step 4 — Decision and payment. Crisis payments are intended to be processed quickly — the point of a crisis fund is that waiting weeks is not an option. However, processing times are not guaranteed, and demand will affect turnaround.
The closure of the Household Support Fund and the launch of the Crisis and Resilience Fund happened within the same short window, in early 2026. That is a tight transition, and there are real risks that some residents fell through the gap.
The funding base changed. The Household Support Fund was central government money, ring-fenced for this purpose. The Crisis and Resilience Fund is locally funded — which means it competes, at least in principle, with every other pressure on the council's budget. With an £18 million projected shortfall over four years and reserves of just £14.2 million, the durability of this fund is a legitimate question.
Awareness may be low. The council has publicised the new fund, but scheme transitions often lead to a dip in take-up as word filters through. Residents who used the Household Support Fund are not automatically informed about its replacement — they have to find out themselves.
Eligibility criteria may differ. The Household Support Fund had specific government-set parameters, including periods when it was targeted at households with children or pensioners. The Crisis and Resilience Fund operates under local criteria, which gives the council more flexibility — but also means the rules are less standardised and potentially less transparent.
Kingston's 48 councillors across 19 wards are accountable for how the council spends public money — including on this fund. With full council elections having taken place on 7 May 2026, newly elected or re-elected councillors should be hearing directly from the people they represent.
Here are the questions that deserve clear answers:
These are not hostile questions. They are the basic accountability questions that any responsible local democracy should be able to answer.
If you are in financial crisis and live in the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames, do not wait to see if the situation resolves itself. Contact Kingston Council through kingston.gov.uk, or ask a frontline professional such as a social worker or housing officer to make a referral on your behalf.
You can also contact Kingston's local Citizens Advice bureau for independent guidance on what you may be entitled to, including benefits, debt advice and food bank referrals.
The Crisis and Resilience Fund exists because residents in this borough face genuine hardship. Whether it is adequately funded, properly publicised and transparently administered is a matter of democratic accountability — not just welfare policy.
If you want to know how your ward councillor voted on the 2026/27 budget, what questions they have raised about the fund's resourcing, or simply whether they know the scheme exists and how it works, you can message them directly through Council Clarity. It takes two minutes, it is free, and it puts your question on the record. Elected representatives work for you — make sure they know it.
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