Kensington and Chelsea Council has launched a new £6.7 million fund aimed at tackling financial crises and building long-term resilience among its residents.
The three-year grant, provided by the Department for Work and Pensions, will replace the Household Support Fund and Discretionary Housing Payments, introducing a new national framework for crisis support with a greater emphasis on targeted assistance and prevention.
This new framework for the Crisis and Resilience Fund (CRF) places a greater emphasis on targeted assistance and prevention compared to previous support mechanisms. In practice, this means that instead of blanket support, the CRF will focus on application-based, needs-assessed support for low-income households facing financial shocks. Housing Payments will replace the Discretionary Housing Payments scheme but will be integrated within the wider resilience framework, linking financial assistance to preventative interventions like tenancy sustainment and income maximisation. Resilience Services will expand advice, debt support, budgeting, and employment assistance to address underlying causes of hardship and reduce future reliance on crisis support. Community Coordination will improve referral pathways and strengthen partnerships to create a clearer local welfare pathway, aiming for a more joined-up and preventative system that reduces repeat crisis demand and supports longer-term financial stability.
The fund, known as the Crisis and Resilience Fund (CRF), will be delivered through four interconnected strands: Crisis Payments, Housing Payments, Resilience Services, and Community Coordination.
Crisis Payments will offer application-based, needs-assessed support for low-income households facing financial shocks. To be eligible, applicants must be aged 18 or over (with exceptions for 16-year-olds who are young carers), be a resident of The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, be experiencing an immediate crisis, and be in receipt of a means-tested benefit or on a low income. Low income is defined by specific weekly and annual figures for different household types, taken from Trust for London research. Applicants must also have savings below £1,000, or below £3,000 if receiving Pension Credit. The policy also outlines situations where an award will not normally be made, such as when help is available from other sources, or if the applicant owns a property other than their primary residence. Repeat awards are limited to a maximum of two in a rolling 12-month period, and engagement with resilience services may be required for repeat support. The scheme prioritizes applicants based on the severity and immediacy of risk, vulnerability within the household, and remaining budget and forecast demand.
Financial shocks that will qualify households for Crisis Payments are defined as an 'unexpected event or sudden change in circumstances that creates an immediate risk to a person or household's health, safety or ability to remain in their home, and where they do not have the financial means or support available to resolve the situation without urgent help'. Examples include disasters (flood, fire, gas explosion), accidents or health emergencies leading to unplanned spending, household relationship breakdowns requiring immediate help (e.g., leaving an abusive relationship), essential item breakdowns (boiler, medical equipment, white goods), unexpected loss of income (e.g., redundancy, short-term gap in regular income), leaving care, prison, detention, hospital, residential care or supported accommodation, and sudden loss/reduction of benefits or extended delays in benefit assessments.
Housing Payments will continue to assist households with housing cost shortfalls, integrated within the broader resilience framework.
Resilience Services will expand advice, debt support, budgeting, and employment assistance through a mix of in-house and commissioned voluntary sector services. The aim of this strand is to achieve 'Reduced experiences of material deprivation', 'Reduced reliance on emergency food provision', 'Increased access to appropriate, high-quality advice services', 'Improved income stability, including income maximisation and reduced priority debt', 'Increased household financial resilience and savings', and 'A long-term reduction in demand for crisis and housing payments'.
Community Coordination will focus on improving referral pathways and strengthening partnerships. This will be achieved through a 'cross-sector steering group' to ensure CRF activities meet local needs and achieve better outcomes. A coordinator will sit centrally in Corporate Strategy to bring partners together, identify collaboration opportunities, map the welfare landscape, and help transform the local welfare offer. This will create clearer pathways between immediate financial assistance and longer-term resilience support, strengthen relationships between Council teams and partner organisations, and ensure residents are referred to appropriate services at the right time.
Implementation of the CRF was delayed due to the Council's cyber-attack in November 2025, which impacted payment systems and capacity. The cyber-attack significantly impacted the Council's capacity to deliver the Crisis and Resilience Fund, affecting payment systems and delaying the transition from Discretionary Housing Payments to Housing Payments due to backlogs and limited capacity. It also delayed the development of the resilience scheme with partners. Measures in place to mitigate ongoing risks include phased implementation of Housing Payments to clear backlogs, expansion of the Local Support Payments Team to handle increased demands for Crisis Payments, and ongoing work to restore systems and strengthen ICT infrastructure. The Council incurred direct costs of £2.750 million for containment and initial recovery from the cyber incident, with further significant expenditure expected. However, the Council aims to have all strands operational by autumn.
The fund will be distributed with a focus on areas experiencing the highest levels of material deprivation, including Chelsea Riverside and Dalgarno wards, reflecting the borough's polarized nature of deprivation.
In the first year, £2.3 million will be allocated, with £2.3 million in the second year and £2.1 million in the third year. The proposed budget breakdown includes £2.688 million for Crisis Payments, £1.545 million for Housing Payments, £1.350 million for in-house Resilience Services, £900,000 for commissioned VCS Resilience Services, and £300,000 for Community Coordination.
Despite the national guidance to end blanket free school meal support during holidays, Kensington and Chelsea Council continued to provide vouchers over the summer holidays as a transition measure, demonstrating a commitment to minimising hardship for vulnerable families.
Further details on the Council's performance and complaint handling can be found in the Public reports pack for the Leadership Team meeting on 23rd September 2026. Public reports pack 23rd-Sep-2026 18.30 Leadership Team
