In July 2025, the LGA surveyed all of its member councils in England to understand their perspectives on the design of the Crisis and Resilience Fund (CRF) and to hear their views on other forms of local welfare provision.
In June 2025 the government announced that the Crisis and Resilience Fund (CRF) would replace both the Household Support Fund (HSF) and Discretionary Housing Payments (DHP) from 1 April 2026. In July 2025, the LGA surveyed all of its member councils in England to understand their perspectives on the design of the new fund and to hear their views on other forms of local welfare provision. A total of 108 responses were received, however, as some of the responses were sent on behalf of more than one council with shared services, the number of councils represented is 113, giving a response rate of 35 per cent.
Key findings
- Just 2 per cent of all survey respondents thought the CRF funding settlement of £1 billion a year from April 2026 to March 2029 would be sufficient to meet local welfare needs to a great extent.
- 52 per cent of councils surveyed said the preferred CRF guidance style is a mix of flexible and prescriptive rules.
- The current HSF guidance enabled over two-thirds (69 per cent) of single tier and county respondents to deliver effective local welfare support that meets local needs to a great or moderate extent.
- Just under two-thirds (64 per cent) of single tier and county respondents had sufficient resources to mitigate holiday hunger to a great or moderate extent by combining HSF with other support, including the Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) programme.
- Over half (56 per cent) of all respondents thought that the existing funds should continue being separate until April 2027.
- Over two thirds (69 per cent) of all respondents would be supportive of creating a new funded statutory requirement for local advice provision to a great or moderate extent.
- 11 per cent of councils said they would be interested in no-interest loan schemes.
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LGA
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