3. Crisis Payments
For residents facing an urgent and unexpected financial shock that threatens their wellbeing or ability to meet essential needs. The Government guidance for CRF describes a financial shock as a sudden income loss or unexpected expense. This could include:
- disasters: these will normally be unexpected and result in significant damage to, or loss of, household items or property, such as a serious flood or fire
- accident, health emergency or mental health crisis, leading to unplanned spending or an increase in costs
- when a resident is leaving an abusive relationship and needs immediate help, such as moving into an unfurnished property
- an essential household item being broken, for example a boiler, fridge or piece of medical equipment
- where money has been lost or stolen and living expenses are required
- when a resident has a short-term gap in regular income, for example, due to redundancy
What Crisis Payments can help with
Depending on your situation, Crisis Payments may help with essential costs such as:
- Food and household essentials
- Energy costs or heating emergencies including the cost of heating oil
- Unexpected essential travel
- Emergency clothing or bedding
- Other urgent costs that cannot reasonably be avoided
What Crisis Payments are not for
The fund is not:
- Income top-up to afford regular expenses
- Guaranteed payment for everyone
- A method of routinely replacing broken household appliances
- A replacement for benefits like Universal Credit
- Long term financial support
- A way to clear or repay debts
How applications are assessed
Every application is reviewed individually, considering:
- Your current financial situation and ability to manage the crisis without receiving a payment
- The nature of the financial shock
- Whether the cost is urgent, essential and unavoidable
- Alternative support available
- Risk of crisis or homelessness
How to apply
You can apply for a Crisis Payment by completing our online form Crisis payment enquiry form with as much detail as you can about your situation. A member of the Benefits and Welfare Team will be in touch with you as soon as possible.
You may be asked to provide evidence in support of your application including your income and outgoings as well as your immediate essential need for a payment.
We use a tool called the Better Off Calculator provided by a company called Policy in Practice to help with this work. You can access the tool here and send your details to our advisors. It will help you identify if there is extra income you could be entitled to. You can use the budgeting function to explore where your money could go further.
If you are unable to fill in the online form, please email us at crisispayments@exeter.gov.uk or alternatively please call 01392 277888.
More information
You can see full details of Exeter City Council’s Crisis Payments scheme in the policy document here: Crisis Payments policy