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Bristol: Household Support Fund & Crisis and Resilience Fund

What Bristol’s local crisis scheme covers, how to apply, and whether it was open when we checked.

Written by the benefitmoney.co.uk editorial team · Last reviewed 14 September 2026

Bristol City Council runs its local crisis help as the Crisis and Resilience Fund. It is a grant — not a loan: help with essentials, nothing to repay. This is a summary; Bristol’s own page (linked below) is the authority and the current position.

What Bristol’s scheme covers

Covers: Free school meal vouchers in school holidays (to Summer 2026); food and heating support for care leavers and foster households; grants to partner charities
Status: not stated (confirmed 10 September 2026)
Funding period: April 2026 to March 2029; £21.3m
What you get: Can give an emergency cash payment for food, or supply household goods (e.g. basic furniture or white goods) instead of cash; no repayment required
Who qualifies: Applicant must be aged 16 or older, live in Bristol, and be in financial crisis
Government allocation: £7,160,262 for 2026-27

No direct application route

Before you apply

Use the right route. No direct applications. Delivered through schools, direct council contact for care leavers, and partner organisations that 'will contact you directly'
Check it is still open. not stated We confirmed this on 10 September 2026.

Only what Bristol states on its own page. Other councils ask for more — see what they have in common.

What Bristol itself says

What you get. “giving you an emergency payment for food”
Who qualifies. “aged 16 or older and live in Bristol, and are in financial crisis”

Quoted from Bristol’s own page↗ and its application page↗, checked 14 September 2026. Nothing on this page is paraphrased into a rule the council has not published. The government allocation is from Annex A of the Crisis and Resilience Fund grant determination 2026 to 2027↗.

Apply on Bristol’s website

Applications are made on the council’s own site — this page collects nothing. If the link has moved, search the council site for “crisis and resilience”, then “household support”, then “welfare assistance”.

Open the Bristol scheme page

Source: Bristol City Council — Crisis and Resilience Fund. Opened 10 September 2026.

Where this money comes from

Central government funds it; the council sets the rules. A payment does not affect your benefits. How the fund works nationally.

Other help you may qualify for

Crisis Loans — what replaced them, and where to apply now.
Help with energy bills — grants and supplier schemes.
Eligibility checker — see what you could be entitled to.
White-goods grants — a broken fridge, cooker or washing machine.

Not in Bristol?

See the other councils we have checked, or find yours via GOV.UK’s Get help with the cost of living from your local council↗.

Outside England the scheme has a different name: the Scottish Welfare Fund in Scotland, the Discretionary Assistance Fund in Wales, and Discretionary Support in Northern Ireland.

Recently checked elsewhere: Broadland, Erewash, Rotherham — see all 141.

Find your council by postcode

Not in Bristol? Enter a postcode and we will point you at the right council’s Crisis and Resilience Fund page.

We look the postcode up with the free postcodes.io service to find your local authority. Nothing you type is stored.

This page is independent. It is not run by Bristol City Council, the Department for Work and Pensions or GOV.UK. Council schemes change without notice; the council’s own page is always the current position.