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Cotswold: Household Support Fund & Crisis and Resilience Fund

What Cotswold’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

Cotswold District 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; Cotswold’s own page (linked below) is the authority and the current position.

What Cotswold’s scheme covers

What you get: Discretionary, usually a short-term award to get through a specific financial crisis
Who qualifies: Must receive Housing Benefit or the housing element of Universal Credit and show that circumstances are exceptional
Decision: Applicant is told the decision once the application has been assessed; no fixed timeframe stated
You will need: Application cannot be processed without the evidence requested on the form or by the benefits team
Not covered: Cannot cover water rates, tenants' levy, or service charges such as heating and hot water
Government allocation: £82,456 for 2026-27

Cotswold District Council is one of 6 district councils in Gloucestershire. In a two-tier area the county council runs crisis payments and the district runs the housing side of the fund — rent shortfalls, a deposit, rent in advance. Gloucestershire County Council was allocated £6,324,525 for 2026-27; Cotswold District Council was allocated £82,456 of its own. If what you need is help with food or energy rather than rent, start with the Gloucestershire scheme.

What Cotswold itself says

What you get. “Awards are usually made for a short term period to help you through a specific financial crisis”
Who qualifies. “You will need to show that you receive Housing Benefit or the housing element of Universal Credit and that your circumstances are exceptional”
Decision. “When your application has been assessed, we will let you know our decision”
You will need. “Check you have provided the evidence requested (either on the online form or by the benefit team) as your application cannot be processed without it”
Not covered. “service charges (for example, heating and hot water)”

Quoted from Cotswold’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 Cotswold’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 Cotswold scheme page

Source: Cotswold District 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

Eligibility checker — see what you could be entitled to.
White-goods grants — a broken fridge, cooker or washing machine.
Budgeting Advance or Budgeting Loan — interest-free from the DWP.
Credit union loans — the cheapest borrowing, capped at 3% a month.

Not in Cotswold?

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: Coventry, High Peak, Stratford-on-Avon — see all 141.

Find your council by postcode

Not in Cotswold? 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 Cotswold District 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.