In December 2025 the UK government announced a new fund called the Crisis and Resilience Fund. This replaces the Household Support Fund which ended in March 2026.
The Crisis and Resilience Fund (CRF) has been made available to local authorities in England to help people on low incomes when they face sudden money problems and supports activities that help people and communities become more financially secure.
This funding covers the period of 1 April 2026 to 31 March 2029 inclusive. It has been confirmed that Surrey County Council are due to receive £7.1m in annual funding for the time period March 2026 to April 2027.
How will the funding be spent?
Crisis Payments
This is short-term, emergency help for people who have had immediate money crises and can’t meet essential day-to-day needs such as food and heating.
Housing Payments
Help specifically linked to housing costs or housing-related crises, to prevent homelessness or help someone to keep or secure a place to live. This will be a replacement for existing Discretionary Housing Payments currently administered by district and borough councils.
Resilience Services
Which will include support that helps people be able to handle future financial challenges.
Community Coordination
Work that coordinates local support so people can access the right help quickly and smoothly.
When will the Crisis and Resilience Fund be available for Surrey?
Surrey County Council will now be working with other organisations in Surrey to work through the mechanisms that need to be set up to ensure funding is allocated to those who need it most and in a way that is easy for eligible residents to access.
We will keep residents in Surrey updated as further information becomes available. See below for frequently asked questions with answers.
Frequently Asked Questions
UK Government guidelines for how the Crisis and Resilience Fund (CRF) should be provided shows consideration for how the needs of affected families will continue to be met through the CRF. This includes:-
- Ensuring families eligible for Free School Meals are aware of and can access Resilience Services that enable them to handle future money challenges. Particularly support to ensure families are claiming all the welfare support they are entitled to.
- Co-ordination with the Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) Programme, which supports children from lower-income families by providing free meals and activities during school holidays. Local Authorities can choose to use the CRF funding to supplement or expand the HAF provision, where it aligns with the Fund’s outcomes on resilience.
- Working with schools and Family Hubs to support families who may be struggling to afford enough food.
- Community food help that tries out new and innovative approaches.
Free School Meals (FSM) Holiday Vouchers had been made possible by the yearly Household Support Fund (HSF) from UK Government. The latest round of HSF 7 funding comes to an end on 31 March 2026. FSM Holiday Vouchers have been funded to families in Surrey from HSF7 and will cover up until the end of the Easter 2026 school holidays.
The Crisis and Resilience fund announced by UK Government in December 2025 provides £7m worth of funding for Surrey in its first year of three years of funding.
When working through how the Crisis and Resilience fund will be delivered, Surrey County Council will consider how best to support families in crisis to ensure the poorest children and most in need families do not go hungry over the school holidays. We will look to ensure that funding and support is given to those families that need it most, in a way to suits their needs best.
Originally UK Government recommended that to support families in crisis to ensure the poorest children do not go hungry in the school holidays, a blanket provision of vouchers to those on free-school meals may not be suitable.
20 March 2026 - updated guidance from UK Government
Authorities have the discretion to design their own schemes within the CRF guidance which can include supporting those families eligible for Free School Meals during school holidays through Crisis Payments. Surrey County Council and partners will now consider this new guidance and provide an update on how support will be provided as soon as we have confirmed details.
We are currently in the process of working with partners and those people with lived experience to ensure we set up the right mechanisms for delivering this funding to the right people, in the easiest way possible to suit their needs.
Once Surrey County Council have received the funding they will endeavour to make the funds available to residents at the earliest time possible.
Government announced funding for low income households who use heating oil on Monday 16 March 2026.
Alison McGovern MP Minister of State for Local Government and Homelessness has written to Surrey County Council to confirm that £129,878 of funding will be added to the Crisis and Resilience Fund to support those low-income households who use heating oil. This acknowledges that there are vulnerable people facing immediate financial hardship because of the increase in heating oil prices, with the risk of losing immediate access to heating or hot water.
The eligibility requirements and ways of applying for funding will need to be worked out and we will update our web pages and relevant partners, to ensure that funding can be accessed by the eligible people in the easiest way possible.
No the last application window closed in March 2026 when the Household Support Fund 7 funding came to an end.
As soon as it is available this website will be updated with further information on what support will be available for low-income families, and how it can be accessed.
Check that you are maximising your finances
To talk to someone who can help you check that you are getting all the financial support you are entitled to please contact the Community Helpline.
Find further information and guidance from the Department of Work and Pensions on getting extra payments to help with the cost of living, if you're entitled to certain benefits or tax credits.
Be Scam Aware
Criminals will try a variety of methods to gain your personal or banking information so please be aware of who you share your details with. Do not click links or reply to unsolicited texts or emails. For further scams advice please see the Surrey County Council Trading Standards Website.
Trading Standards have a fortnightly newsletter where you can keep up to date with the latest scams, product recalls and alerts about rogue traders. Trading Standards newsletter.