Crisis Assistance

Crisis payments are awarded to cover short-term needs which prevent serious risk to the health and safety of a person or their family. The payments are intended to meet one-off needs rather than on-going expenses.

Crisis Assistance
Crisis Assistance provides support by way of supermarket vouchers that can be used for groceries and fuel vouchers which can be used for prepaid meters.

To be eligible for Crisis Assistance you must:

Be aged 16 or over
Be in receipt of an out of work or disability benefit or be out of work and awaiting an initial decision on entitlement to a qualifying out of work or disability benefit (If claiming or in receipt of Universal Credit this must be due to being out of work)
Consideration can be given to low income working households in receipt of either Tax Credits or Universal Credit – the household’s earned income must be below the London Living Wage (£11.95 per hour)
Not have access to any funds that can be relied on to meet the need you are applying for, and where you would be left with insufficient resources which would cause serious risk to your own, or your family’s, health or safety
Not have had your benefit entitlement suspended or sanctioned by the DWP, unless exceptional circumstances apply
Be ordinarily resident in the Borough of Wandsworth and have lived in the Borough for six weeks prior to applying and are expected to be resident in the Borough after receipt of the award. Except where you have moved into the borough due to an emergency such as fleeing domestic violence, prison discharge or leaving care.
If resident in Temporary Accommodation provided by Wandsworth Council in or out of the borough. If placed in temporary accommodation within Wandsworth by another council, then requests for Crisis Assistance should be made to the placing authority.
Number of awards
Households will be eligible to apply for one award in the three-month period between 1 April 2023 and 30 June 2023. In addition, households can apply for a further two awards in the nine-month period between 1 July 2023 and 31 March 2024. Any awards made will be at least six weeks apart and subject to a maximum of three awards in the 12-month period from 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024.