The Household Support Fund is ending - what next?
The Household Support Fund was introduced in October 2021 to help low-income households struggling with essentials like food, energy and water bills. The funds were given by the government to local councils for them to deliver support to those in crisis in their communities. Since 2021 then there have been three tranches of grants available to councils, totalling over £2billion.
As well as providing for food and energy costs the support, council dependent, gave grants to support individuals with other needs, such as travel, clothing and rent arrears.
The Household Support Fund accounted for 62% of all local welfare assistance funding for crisis support in 2022/23*. In 2023/24, Citizens Advice reported helping over 46,600 people access essential support via the HSF**. This high usage of the scheme will leave a huge hole in funding when the scheme comes to an end at the end of March 2026 for councils, benefits advisers and local crisis support.
As this support comes to an end there are still many in the UK struggling to afford essentials of everyday living.
Research from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation found that approximately 7 million low-income households in the UK were going without essentials including food during 2025, with demand for local welfare assistance rising sharply year on year.*** Alongside those who are on a low-income, it is approximated that there are 14.3million people living in poverty in the UK, who are also struggling to afford the essentials of everyday living.****
What about the future?
While the HSF is concluding, the Government is introducing the Crisis and Resilient Fund (CRSF), which works on a similar principle, and is intended to support individuals with one-off needs. However, the new scheme will change from being a discretionary pot to a structured, auditable scheme. There will be £1billion per year available, over three years. This support for someone needing a crisis or housing payment will trigger next steps to support the individual more holistically, with debt advice or referrals to mental health services, for example. You can read more about this new fund here.
The CRSF will be more complex to administer, and more input will be needed from local councils, benefits teams and those delivery crisis support. This is a much-needed change to help support individuals longer term, but may mean that some do not access the support available, due to not wanting to complete the extra steps needed.
At Acts 435 we want to support those individuals with one-off needs, while they're in a moment of crisis, or just struggling with everyday essentials, with no strings attached.
We partner with local churches and charities who are seeing the need in their community, and while many provide other holistic services, we are able to deliver the direct help that they need without huge structures or hoops to jump through to access this funding. As a charity, with the end of the HSF, we would encourage more churches, charities and organisations to find out more about our work, to support those that they know to have a need, and who want to provide fast financial help.
If your church, local charity or organisation want to support individuals further with one-off, direct needs, take a look at our partner with Us page.
*End Furniture Poverty Report 2022/23
** Citizens Advice, The Household Support Fund
*** Joseph Rowntree Report, Cost of Living Tracker, Winter 2025