Crisis Payment

A Crisis Payment is help if you’re facing a financial emergency and cannot afford to pay for essential living costs.  

Crisis Payments are part of the Crisis and Resilience Fund funded by the UK Government.

It can: 

  • help you in an emergency or in an unexpected situation
  • give a one-time payment for urgent or unexpected costs
  • put you in touch with other services that can help you longer-term

By unexpected, we mean something that:

  • happens suddenly or earlier than expected, and
  • is not part of your usual or expected situation, and
  • means you cannot reasonably cope with the financial pressure on your own at that time

What is a crisis?

A crisis can affect people in very different ways. It does not look the same for everyone. 

We’ll consider your situation and what’s happened to you.

Examples include:

  • losing your job, having your hours cut, or not getting paid on time
  • problems with benefits, like payments being stopped or delayed, or waiting for a decision that means you don’t have enough money
  • a health emergency or serious illness that brings unexpected costs or loss of income
  • leaving an unsafe or abusive situation and needing urgent help to stay safe or find a new place to live
  • an emergency like a fire or flood that damages your home or destroys things you need
  • something essential in your home breaks, like your cooker, fridge, bed or washing machine and you need a replacement quickly
  • unexpected costs you must pay, for example funeral expenses
  • a sudden money problem where you can’t afford your basic living costs, even if you managed before

What we can help with  

You can apply for a Crisis Payment for help where:

  • something has happened that you didn’t expect
  • you don't have enough money right now to cover urgent costs
  • you cannot afford to pay for essential living costs such as food, energy, water, household items and urgent housing related costs
  • a sudden change, such as losing your job, getting sick or a benefit problem means you cannot manage without urgent help
  • you need short term help to improve your situation and prevent things from getting worse

What we cannot help with 

You cannot apply for a Crisis Payment for help where:

  • your situation is ongoing or long term and there has been no recent or unexpected change
  • the situation relates to regular household expenses that have been difficult to manage over time, such as rent, utilities or food costs, without a sudden change in circumstances
  • you already knew about the cost and had time to get ready for it
  • you need support for non essential items or services
  • the situation does not mean you urgently need money for basic living needs

Who can apply

You can apply if you:

  • live in Redbridge
  • are experiencing an immediate financial crisis
  • cannot meet essential living needs
  • there is no other support available to you

Your application is looked at on its own, using the details you provide when you apply.

Read the Crisis Payment guide

How to apply

You’ll need: 

  • details of your household’s income, outgoings and available money
  • what the immediate crisis is
  • any risks to your household’s health, safety or wellbeing
  • any support you have already tried

Make sure you have all the information you need before you start. You can add your documents when you apply.

You can get someone to complete the form on your behalf if they have your consent.

Apply for a Crisis Payment

Returning to an application you have started

You can save your application and come back to it later.

We’ll email you a link which you can use to complete the form.

What happens next

We’ll look at your application and decide if we’re going to give you a Crisis Payment. If we need any more information, we’ll let you know.

We’ll deal with any safeguarding concerns first.

There is no set amount for a Crisis Payment. We’ll decide:

  • whether to give you a Crisis Payment
  • how much you'll be paid
  • what support you need to help with your ongoing issues

We’ll write to you as soon as possible with our decision. We’ll explain the reasons for the decision. 

We’ll make our decisions in line with government guidance for the Crisis and Resilience Fund.

You’ll need to engage with us to receive your Crisis Payment. 

If you do not agree with the decision

There is no automatic right of appeal.

If you do not agree with the decision, you can ask us to review it again. Your decision letter will tell you how to ask for a review and how much time you have to do it.

If you need help understanding the decision or review process, you may want to get independent advice.

Other help you can get 

Whatever happens with your application, we’ll offer you support. Crisis Payment is only one part of the help you can get.

You’ll be offered other support such as:

  • housing support
  • benefits and income advice
  • debt and budgeting support
  • employment or training support
  • community food and essentials support