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Folkestone and Hythe: Household Support Fund & Crisis and Resilience Fund

What Folkestone and Hythe’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

Folkestone & Hythe 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; Folkestone and Hythe’s own page (linked below) is the authority and the current position.

What Folkestone and Hythe’s scheme covers

Award: Housing payment capped at your weekly rent liability
What you get: Can include lump-sum payments to prevent homelessness
Who qualifies: Entitled to Housing Benefit or the Universal Credit housing element
How often: Short-term award only, not long-term support
Decision: Notified within 17 days of a decision
Not covered: No award if rent-in-advance/deposit already paid after moving in
Funding period: Housing Payment scheme replaces Discretionary Housing Payments from 1 April 2026
Government allocation: £237,176 for 2026-27

Folkestone & Hythe District Council is one of 12 district councils in Kent. 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. Kent County Council was allocated £20,169,772 for 2026-27; Folkestone & Hythe District Council was allocated £237,176 of its own. If what you need is help with food or energy rather than rent, start with the Kent scheme.

What Folkestone and Hythe itself says

Award. “Housing Payments cannot be greater than what you're responsible to pay for your weekly rent”
What you get. “Other lump-sum payments essential for securing or preventing homelessness”
Who qualifies. “you are entitled to housing benefit or can provide evidence that you are entitled to the housing element of Universal Credit”
How often. “They are not long-term payments. They are awarded on a short-term basis while you take action to improve your circumstances”
Decision. “you will be notified within 17 days of a decision”
Not covered. “if you have made a claim for rent in advance and/or deposit and already moved into the property, you will not receive an award in this circumstance”
Funding period. “This scheme replaces Discretionary Housing Payments from 1 April 2026”

Quoted from Folkestone and Hythe’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 Folkestone and Hythe’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 Folkestone and Hythe scheme page

Source: Folkestone & Hythe 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

DWP phone numbers — which line to call, and for what.
Borrowing while on benefits — what it costs and what it does to your award.
Crisis Loans — what replaced them, and where to apply now.
Help with energy bills — grants and supplier schemes.

Not in Folkestone and Hythe?

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: Fylde, Mid Devon, Warwick — see all 141.

Find your council by postcode

Not in Folkestone and Hythe? 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 Folkestone & Hythe 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.