York Financial Assistance Scheme (YFAS) provides help to local people in financial difficulties due to exceptional circumstances.
They offer two types of assistance:
- Emergency Assistance for a disaster or crisis
- Community Assistance to help with exceptional pressures or financial difficulty
What YFAS can provide
YFAS can provide:
- goods
- services
- gas and electricity top-ups
- supermarket vouchers
They only make emergency cash available in exceptional circumstances, when they're unable to provide direct assistance.
They only award items on the basis of need - for example, they could only provide a carpet if you have a baby or toddler who's crawling.
Before making a YFAS application
Check whether you're eligible for emergency assistance from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) before applying for YFAS support:
- apply for an advance if you’re waiting for your first benefit payment
- apply for a budgeting loan to help pay for essential items if you're already claiming benefits
See more information about Benefits.
Make a YFAS application
Download the YFAS factsheet and YFAS criteria before making a YFAS application.
You'll need to list your income and expenses to make your application - use these Citizens Advice resources to help with this:
Upload a completed budget sheet (as a PDF) to support your application.
You can send your budget sheet separately to YFAS (if you prefer), either:
- via our Benefits Section (not Citizen's Advice), or
- by email to yfas@york.gov.uk
Alternatively, telephone: 0808 168 5238 (free from a landline).