York CRF Crisis Payments
York Crisis and Resilience Fund (CRF) Crisis Payments support residents who are experiencing a sudden money problem, need urgent financial assistance, and do not have enough income or savings to meet the eligible costs the scheme can help with.
CRF Crisis Payments can be considered to help with:
- essential costs to alleviate a crisis and improve individuals financial resilience
- food and hygiene products
- energy bills - including electricity, gas, oil, LPG
- water bills - including sewerage
- council tax arrears
- internet connection
- essential household items, such as cooker, washing machine, bed
- essential transport-related costs, such as repairing a car, buying a bicycle, paying for fuel
- some exceptional housing costs
Individual applications are needed for a CRF Crisis Payment.
- CRF Crisis Payment eligibility
- How CRF Crisis Payments are made
- The number of CRF Crisis Payments you can receive
- Apply for a CRF Crisis Payment
- Change of circumstances
- CRF Payment decision reviews
CRF Crisis Payment eligibility
Applicants must:
- be city of York residents
- be over 16 years of age
- have recourse to public funds - which applies if you have moved to the UK from another country
You can apply if you:
- have experienced or are experiencing a sudden money problem
- require urgent financial assistance
- do not have enough income or savings to meet the type of costs the scheme can help with
Residents in the following groups have been identified as priority groups:
- disabled people, including children and young people 24 or under with an Education, Health and Care plan
- elderly, frail or confused older people, particularly those who are not eligible for Pension Credit
- single adult households with high energy, rent or mortgage costs
- people who are seriously ill or have a severe long term health condition, including people with health conditions that are affected by the cold, such as COPD, severe asthma, cardiovascular disease, sickle cell anaemia
- people who are recently bereaved
- pregnant women or those who have recently given birth
- recently unemployed people
- care leavers
- unpaid carers
- people fleeing domestic abuse
- people affected by high rent or mortgage costs
- people who's DWP benefit has been sanctioned and are formally challenging this decision
- people affected by a disaster, such as a fire or flood
Those who cannot apply
The following categories of people do not qualify for help:
- people who do not live within the City of York Council boundaries
- residents who have no recourse to public funds
- residents in care homes (within the meaning of specific acts) with no plans for discharge
- hospital in-patients with no plans for discharge
- people lawfully detained or on release on a temporary licence
- members of a religious order who are being fully maintained by it
- residents under 16 years of age
See full details of York CRF Payments Criteria.
How CRF Crisis Payments are made
We'll look at each application on an individual basis, focusing on your needs and your household’s situation. We use a cash‑first approach, which means we will normally offer direct payments, but we may also provide vouchers or essential goods if that is the best way to support you.
Sometimes we may need to refer your application to advice or support services. This helps us gather the right information so we can make the most appropriate award and help build your long‑term financial resilience.
CRF Crisis Payments come from a discretionary, means‑tested scheme, which means we may need to ask you for some basic financial information.
Everyone who applies will also be offered information and signposting to services that can support stability and wellbeing.
If the information in your application shows that you may be eligible for other support from City of York Council, such as Council Tax Support, we may treat your application as a request for that help too. This is to make sure you don’t miss out on any support to which you’re entitled.
We check applications throughout the day, and we prioritise emergency requests. We'll contact you within 48 hours, and we aim to make awards on the same day whenever possible.
The number of CRF Crisis Payments you can receive
Residents can receive a maximum of 2 CRF Crisis Payments during the financial year, unless there are additional mitigating circumstances.
Apply for a CRF Crisis Payment
You must check the required supporting information before starting your application.
You can use these resources to help you list your income and expenses for your application:
You can provide the information needed to support your application, including bank statements, budget information and background information by:
- uploading PDF, JPG or GIF photos of your documents when you complete the online form
- email to: crf@york.gov.uk
- post to: CRF, West Offices, Station Rise, York, YO1 6GA
- booking an appointment to provide them in person at West Offices
Apply for a York CRF Crisis Payment
Required supporting information
We’ll ask you to tell us a bit about your situation so we can:
- understand what’s happened and why you need a CRF Crisis Payment
- see what has changed in your life that has caused a sudden money problem
- make sure you’re getting all the help and support available to you
You'll need to provide supporting documents to confirm your circumstances, including details of:
- earnings
- benefits received, such as
- Housing Benefit
- Council Tax Support
- Universal Credit
- disability benefits
- Pension Credit
- pensions
- any other income
- savings and readily available funds in bank or building society accounts
- whether assistance has been sought from other available sources and the outcome, such as other grant support
How we consider your application
Sometimes we may need to refer your application our CRF Benefits Adviser. This helps us gather the right information so we can make the most appropriate award and help build your long‑term financial resilience.
We'll always explain the reason we have approved or rejected your application.
Everyone who applies will also be offered information and signposting to services that can support stability and wellbeing and where appropriate, make a referral on your behalf. For example, this could be getting you some advice and help on how to prepare an income and expenditure budget, or by helping you to access more specialist agencies such as, for example, the Step Change debt charity.
If you apply to the scheme again and you're not getting the support that you need, we'll refer you to a support service. This may be a condition of receiving the second award.
We may also decide that it is reasonable to not take account of other money or assets, depending on the circumstances of the claim. Housing Benefit, Disability Living Allowance, Personal Independence Payment, your home and personal possessions will not normally be counted.
Help to apply
If you're unable to complete the form online, you can:
- call for assistance for free on telephone: 0808 168 5238 - please have all the information about your income, outgoings and the support you need with you when you call
- contact a local advice and support service to get benefits advice and help with your application
Change of circumstances
Applicants must notify the council of any changes which may be relevant to the CRF Payment applications or awards.
The council should inform CRF Payment recipients of what changes to report and how to do so.
CRF Payment decision reviews
You have the right to a review if you are unhappy with our decision.
The decision will be looked at again by someone who did not make the original decision. If you remain unhappy you can use the council’s complaints process.
Review requests can be made by email: crf@york.gov.uk, or by post to:
CRFCity of York Council
West Offices
Station Rise
York
YO1 6GA
If you remain unhappy you can use the council’s complaints process. See details of how to raise a comment, compliment, complaint or concern.