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Test Valley: Household Support Fund & Crisis and Resilience Fund

What Test Valley’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

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

What Test Valley’s scheme covers

Who qualifies: Live in Test Valley and need help with essential costs due to an emergency or exceptional circumstances
How often: Meeting the eligibility criteria does not guarantee an award
How to apply: Email the council's Crisis and Resilience Fund team
You will need: Evidence of the financial difficulty or emergency being experienced
Government allocation: £137,537 for 2026-27

Test Valley Borough Council is one of 11 district councils in Hampshire. 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. Hampshire County Council was allocated £11,035,376 for 2026-27; Test Valley Borough Council was allocated £137,537 of its own. If what you need is help with food or energy rather than rent, start with the Hampshire scheme.

What Test Valley itself says

Who qualifies. “Need help with essential costs due to an emergency, unexpected event or exceptional circumstances”
How often. “Eligibility does not guarantee an award”
You will need. “Evidence of the financial difficulty or emergency you are experiencing”

Quoted from Test Valley’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 Test Valley’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 Test Valley scheme page

Source: Test Valley Borough 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 Test Valley?

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: Tewkesbury, Bradford, Lichfield — see all 141.

Find your council by postcode

Not in Test Valley? 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 Test Valley Borough 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.