Liverpool City Council to Launch £11.8m Fund to Support Households in Financial Crisis
A significant shift in how the city supports its most vulnerable residents is set to be formalised this week, moving from temporary cost-of-living relief to a long-term strategy for financial stability across Liverpool.
Liverpool City Council’s Cabinet is set to approve a plan to administer a new £11.8 million annual fund to support households facing financial crisis.
The Crisis and Resilience Fund is the Government’s replacement for the Household Support Fund and Discretionary Housing Payments and will be in operation for at least the next three years.
It is not a direct replacement, as the Household Support Fund was focused on supporting residents with the cost of living, whilst the new fund is focused on financial crisis and building resilience to stop it happening again.
The fund is designed to help people manage sudden or unexpected expenses or a loss of income, while supporting longer-term financial resilience.
A Collaborative Approach to Support
Liverpool City Council has been working with partners and local organisations to design this new approach.
Collaborative efforts with council services, charities, and community organisations, including Feeding Liverpool, Citizens Advice Liverpool, End Furniture Poverty, and the Liverpool Access to Advice Network (LATAN), have ensured the strategy reflects real experiences and needs.
The Crisis and Resilience Fund consists of four key components:
- Crisis payments: Emergency cash-first support for urgent essential needs.
- Housing payments: Short-term financial support for rent shortfalls, deposits, or tenancy set-up costs.
- Resilience services: Practical help with budgeting, debt support, employment, and digital skills.
- Community co-ordination: Joined-up work between agencies to support households and service directories.
Strengthening Financial Security
Deputy Council Leader and Cabinet Member for Finance, Resources and Transformation, Cllr Ruth Bennett, said:
“Liverpool has a proud tradition of supporting our most vulnerable households and the new Crisis and Resilience Fund gives us certainty in terms of the amount of funding we have over the next three years.
“Families in crisis will continue to be supported but we also want to change the system so that it puts our residents in a stronger position to handle unexpected financial problems.
“This could include support with debt advice, help with budgeting, supporting them into employment and digital skills to enable them to get easier access to services.”
Cllr Bennett noted that this fund sits alongside other national and local initiatives, such as the lifting of the two-child benefit cap and the expansion of free school meals to all families on Universal Credit.
In Liverpool, the council is also auto-enrolling pupils for free school meals, a move that benefits an additional 550 households and provides a financial boost for schools through Pupil Premium payments.
The report will be considered by the Cabinet at a meeting on Tuesday 14 April.
