The Cambridgeshire Local Assistance Scheme (CLAS) offers support to individuals and families in Cambridgeshire who are facing unexpected financial difficulties or crisis situations.
CLAS is managed by a partnership of local charitable organisations led by CHS Group. The scheme provides information, advice, and discretionary assistance to help you:
- Improve your immediate financial position
- Cope and better support yourself during hardship
- Access resources to succeed in the long term
What support can you get?
- Low cost, reused and refurbished household items
- Clothing
- Food vouchers
Who can apply?
- You must have lived in Cambridgeshire for at least six months, or have fled to the area for your own safety.
- You must have no savings and be receiving one of the following means-tested benefits:
- Income Support
- Income-based Job Seekers Allowance (JSA)
- Income-related Employment and Support Allowance (ESA)
- Pension Credit
- Universal Credit
- If you are working, your total household income must be below the HMRC low income threshold (£18,725 for 2023/24).
How to apply
- Apply through your nearest Citizens Advice Bureau:
- Cambridge City or South Cambridgeshire Citizens Advice Bureau
- East Cambridgeshire, Fenland and Huntingdonshire Citizens Advice Bureau
For more details and to access self-help information on money, being online, finding work, and renting, visit the Making Money Count website.
All support is discretionary and subject to eligibility.
Categories:
Basic necessities (food/clothes)
Helping with money
Information and advice