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Manchester: Household Support Fund & Crisis and Resilience Fund

What Manchester’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

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

What Manchester’s scheme covers

Covers: Food and essential costs; energy and heating; furniture and essential household items; travel to a new job; housing help via a separate process
Status: not stated (confirmed 10 September 2026)
What you get: May receive a bank payment or a voucher
Who qualifies: Must live in Manchester, be on a low income, facing a financial crisis/emergency, and have no other way to pay for essentials
How to apply: Apply online via the Local Welfare Assistance website, or call for help/alternative formats
Decision: Outcome given as soon as possible (no fixed timeframe stated)
Not covered: Help with rent or housing costs is provided separately, not through this fund
Government allocation: £14,534,015 for 2026-27

Short-term help only, not ongoing support

Before you apply

Use the right route. Apply online on the council site. The fund is split into separate applications for food and essential costs, energy and heating, furniture and household items, and travel to a new job.
Check it is still open. not stated We confirmed this on 10 September 2026.

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

What Manchester itself says

Who qualifies. “This fund is for people who have no other way to pay for essentials”
How to apply. “Apply online on the Local Welfare Assistance website”
Decision. “We will tell you the outcome as soon as possible”
Not covered. “If you need help with rent or housing costs, this is provided separately”

Quoted from Manchester’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 Manchester’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 Manchester scheme page

Source: Manchester 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

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.
Eligibility checker — see what you could be entitled to.

Not in Manchester?

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: Mansfield, Salford, Broxbourne — see all 141.

Find your council by postcode

Not in Manchester? 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 Manchester 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.