Agenda item

The Crisis and Resilience Fund was introduced by the Cabinet Member for Housing.

The Crisis and Resilience Fund (CRF) covered the period from 1 April 2026 to 31 March 2029 and represented a shift from short term emergency support to a more preventative, needs-based approach.

Funding was to be used to establish a new crisis payment find scheme and grant funding for resilience services.

The delivery and management of the CRF was to be overseen by the following:

• Rural & Communities Overview and Scrutiny Committee

• Deputy Chief Executive & S151 Officer

• Head of Service (Revenues, Benefits and Customer Service)

• Welfare and Financial Advice Team

• Revenues and Benefits Technical Support Team

The scheme was to be administered by SKDC and across the county would constitute 45% of the total CRF (£9.9m for 2026/27). SKDC had received £625,086 funding for Crisis Payments for 2026/27.

A county-wide working group was undertaking the following:

• Development of an online application form

• Development of a case management system

• Inter authority grant agreements (prepared by LCC legal team)

• Procurement process to commission a partner(s) to administer and issue the payments

• Development and maintenance of a resilience organisation database

• Final district distribution of the resilience funding.

The proposed key dates for delivery were:

·       1 July 2026 – Crisis Payment applications are live

·       1 July 2026 – Resilience Services identified and grant agreement discussions taking place / signed

·       During 2026/27 – Community co-ordination gap analysis activity will be throughout Year 1 and will shape any changes to delivery in years 2 and 3.

During discussions, the following comments were made:

-       A Member noted concern about agreeing to a delegation before the documentation had been finalised. It was explained that this was due to the co-ordination of gaining approval from all seven involved district authorities prior to the 1 July 2026 deadline.

-       It was confirmed that all districts were working to the parameters of the roughly the same eligibility criteria for the scheme.

-       Reassurance was sought about safeguards against individuals that struggled to engage with support. It was confirmed that delivery of the service would be tailored to the individual to ensure accessibility.

-       Once the rollout of the scheme was confirmed then materials would be circulated for Members to share.

-       It was noted there was previously a support desk at the Jubilee Life Centre, Grantham. The Head of Service (Revenue, Benefits, Customer Service, and Community) said that this could be revisited during discussions.

-       It was confirmed that funding for the next two years of the scheme had been confirmed.

-       It was requested to include the working ‘recommend as presented’ within the resolution. This was incorporated within the proposal.

Following discussions, it was proposed, seconded, and AGREED to:

1.    Recommend as presented to Cabinet the delegation of any operational and financial decisions required in regard to CRF scheme delivery to the Deputy Chief Executive and S151 Officer (as detailed in paragraph 2.7)

2.    Recommend as presented to Cabinet that officers within the Welfare and Financial Advice Team deliver the Crisis Resilience Fund (CRF) scheme for 2026/27 and 2027/28 - in line with associated guidance (as detailed in paragraph 2.9).

3.    Recommend as presented to Cabinet that officers within the Revenues and Benefits Technical Support Team deliver the Housing Payments (HP) element of CRF – in line with associated guidance (as detailed in paragraph 2.10).

4.    Note the recruitment of an additional full time Welfare and Financial Advice Officer for a fixed term contract (31 March 2028) to support the delivery of the scheme (as detailed in paragraph 2.28).