Home›Household Support Fund›Councils›St Albans

St Albans: Household Support Fund & Crisis and Resilience Fund

What St Albans’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

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

What St Albans’s scheme covers

Who qualifies: Must normally be receiving Housing Benefit or Universal Credit with housing costs
How often: Usually awarded for a limited period and not intended as a long-term solution
How to apply: Make a claim for a Housing Payment (online form, or paper copy/collection by calling the council)
Funding period: Scheme runs from 1 April 2026 to 31 March 2029
Government allocation: £160,580 for 2026-27

St Albans City and District Council is one of 10 district councils in Hertfordshire. 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. Hertfordshire County Council was allocated £9,299,527 for 2026-27; St Albans City and District Council was allocated £160,580 of its own. If what you need is help with food or energy rather than rent, start with the Hertfordshire scheme.

What St Albans itself says

Who qualifies. “must normally be receiving Housing Benefit or Universal Credit with housing costs to be eligible”
How often. “usually awarded for a limited period and are not intended to provide a long-term solution”
How to apply. “Make a claim for a Housing Payment”
Funding period. “run from 1 April 2026 to 31 March 2029”

Quoted from St Albans’s own 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 St Albans’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 St Albans scheme page

Source: St Albans City and 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 St Albans?

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: Stafford, Woking, Harlow — see all 141.

Find your council by postcode

Not in St Albans? 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 St Albans City and 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.