Wandsworth Council Launches £3.4m Fund to Tackle Poverty and Boost Financial Resilience
Wandsworth Council has launched a £3.4 million fund to support low-income households facing financial hardship, aiming to provide both immediate relief and long-term financial stability. The new Crisis and Resilience Fund (CRF) will operate for three years from April 2026.
The fund is structured across four strands: Crisis Payments, Housing Payments, resilience activities, and community coordination. This represents a strategic shift towards a more preventative model, addressing the root causes of financial instability rather than solely providing short-term crisis support.
Councillor Peter Graham, Deputy Leader of the Council and Cabinet Member for Finance, stated that the CRF aims to support low-income households experiencing financial shocks and to invest in activity that strengthens the longer-term financial resilience of those households.
He added that the fund signifies a strategic shift in national policy away from repeated short-term crisis payments and towards a more preventative, resilience-based model.
Accessing Crisis Support
The Crisis and Resilience Fund requires local authorities to operate a clearly defined Crisis Payment Scheme. This scheme provides short-term financial assistance to low-income households experiencing an immediate financial shock, such as a risk of going without basic necessities like food, heating, shelter, or essential services. The scheme operates on a continuous, year-round basis and is primarily application-led and needs-based, not intended as an alternative to regular income. The guidance emphasizes a cash-first approach wherever possible to preserve dignity and resident choice. The new Crisis Payment scheme, which came into effect on 1 July 2026, replaces the existing Wandsworth Discretionary Social Fund and Community Care Grant schemes. For 2026/27, a budget of £1,030,000 is proposed for Crisis Payments.
Building Long-Term Resilience
Beyond immediate relief, a significant portion of the fund will be invested in Resilience Services. These encompass a range of activities designed to reduce the likelihood of future financial crises by strengthening individual and community financial resilience. Services include financial inclusion, debt advice, employment support, and energy efficiency interventions. The council aims to ensure these services are accessible through trauma-informed, person-centred approaches and clear referral pathways, including warm referrals
from emergency support into longer-term assistance. For residents with long-term health conditions or disabilities, the Council's WRAP service offers energy advice and home interventions. Citizens Advice Wandsworth has also seen increased utilization by residents with disabilities, who made up 63% of clients in 2025.
The council will promote alternative options for families affected by the end of Holiday Food Vouchers, including access to the Crisis Payment scheme, additional Holiday Activity and Food Places, and food pantry offers from Family Hubs.
Community Coordination and Digital Integration
The Community Coordination strand is crucial for integrating the local welfare support system. It focuses on improving how services connect and work together, developing clearer referral pathways, and investing in capacity for networks, shared tools, and information. The aim is to create a no wrong door
system that enables residents in financial difficulty to be supported more effectively and referred seamlessly between crisis, housing, and resilience services.
For 2026/27, £16,000 of CRF funding is proposed for the second year of the Better Off calculator
and Apply Once
system. The Better Off calculator helps residents identify benefits they may be missing, while Apply Once allows direct application for council schemes like Council Tax Reduction and Housing Benefit without separate forms. Existing investment in this area, funded by the Cost of Living Programme, may also be supported under this stream, including maintaining an online directory of services.
Borough Anti-Poverty Strategy
The council also plans to develop a borough anti-poverty strategy to address the structural factors underpinning poverty. Officers will begin this work alongside the first year of CRF delivery, mapping current provision and identifying priority themes. The strategy is intended to set out a coordinated framework for action across the council and its partners, embedding a more joined-up and sustainable anti-poverty approach. The strategy will focus on practical, proportionate, and deliverable actions. Consultations are planned for late autumn 2026, with sign-off anticipated in January 2027 and the strategy becoming operational from April 2027 onwards. This will inform the design of the second and third years of the CRF.
The DWP guidance expects that demand for crisis and housing payments will reduce over time as residents are directed to preventative services. The council will monitor impacts through data, service demand, and feedback to inform the Anti-Poverty Strategy and future CRF allocations. Data analytics will continue to improve data quality and collection, and expanded capacity for Financial Inclusion Officers will allow for more personalized support to residents, with efforts to ensure underserved groups are reached.
Funding Allocations and Timelines
The CRF will operate for three years, from April 2026 to March 2029. The proposed allocations for 2026/27 are £3,772,613, with projected allocations for 2027/28 at £3,770,969 and for 2028/29 at £3,676,536. The DWP guidance expects demand for crisis and housing payments to decrease over time as preventative services become more effective.
