Crisis support

You will receive a loan if you require additional support to:

• Provide immediate assistance with short term living expense, household items or repair of such items which have been stolen, broken or destroyed.

• Visit a close relative who is ill.

• Attend a funeral.

• Ease a domestic crisis.

• Visit a child who is living with their other parent or move to suitable accommodation.

• Provide rent in advance to a private landlord.

The loan should be repaid within 52 weeks (this can be extended to 78 weeks) and this will be deducted directly from your benefit payments.

If you and your partner have a combined debt of £1,500 or more from the Social Fund, Discretionary Support and Short-term Benefit Advance, you will not be able to get a Discretionary Support loan

You will receive a grant if the support is to:

• Assist you or a family member to remain or begin living independently.

• If you or a family member is prevented from remaining in your home.

• Assist with living expenses if you are already in debt at a level the Department considers unacceptable.

• Assist with living expenses if you are entitled to a loan but cannot afford repayments.

• Assist with living expenses if you or your immediate family is diagnosed with Covid-19 or advised to isolate by the Public Health Agency.

Where available, local welfare funds often takes the form of one or more of the following:

• Services delivered by the local authority.

• Delivered by other organisations for the local authority.

• Grants.

• No interest loans.

• Credit Union loans.

• ‘White goods’, eg. fridges or cookers supplied directly instead of money.

• Prepayment cards.

• Vouchers

• Payments made directly to a third party (e.g. an energy supplier).

A Crisis Grant can be given to cover the costs of an emergency. You can only apply for a Crisis Grant by contacting your local council. You can begin applying by following this link: Scottish Welfare Fund | how-to-apply

You could be eligible if you are on a low income and

• You are 16 or over.

• There's a fire or flood at your home.

• You've lost money.

• An unexpected crisis happens.

• You're a victim of domestic abuse and you need help with things like moving away from an abuser.

• You're a grandparent or other relative who has taken over caring for a child, and you're waiting on a transfer of benefits.

• You're facing a gap in your normal income because of a redundancy or change at work.

You do not have to be on benefits to eligible for a crisis grant, but you do need to be on a low income. There is no figure that will be used to judge whether you have a low income. As a guide, if you're on one of the benefits below, or your income is about the same as someone who is, it's more likely you'll be able to get a Crisis Grant:

• Income Support.

• Pension Credit.

• Jobseeker's Allowance (JSA) - Income based.

• Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) - Income based.

• Universal Credit.

If you do get a Crisis Grant, your local council will look at helping you with your most urgent living costs. They may help you with the costs of

• Food.

• Heating costs.

A Community care grant can be given to help you or someone you care for to begin living or carry on living a settled life in the community. You can only apply for a Community Care Grant by contacting your local council. You can begin applying by following this link: Scottish Welfare Fund | how-to-apply You might be eligible for a community care grant if you are on a low income and

• You are 16 or over.

• You are leaving care or imprisonment and need help to start a settled home.

• You have been homeless, or living an unsettled life, and need help to start a settled home.

• You need support to stay out of care.

• You are caring for someone who's been released from prison or a young offender's institution.

• You are experiencing great pressure and need help to keep a settled home.

• You are escaping domestic abuse.

• A child's health is at risk.

• You must be 16 or over and on a low income to apply for a Community Care Grant.

You do not need to be on benefits to get a Community Care Grant but you do need to be on a low income. There is no figure that will be used to judge whether you have a low income. As a guide, if you're on one of the benefits below, or your income is about the same as someone who is, it's more likely you'll be able to get a Community Care Grant:

• Income Support.

• Pension Credit.

• Jobseeker's Allowance (JSA) - Income based.

• Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) - Income based.

• Universal Credit.

If you have savings of over £700, or £1,200 if you get a pension, you'll be less likely to get a Community Care Grant. Your local council will decide.

If you are a low income worker and you have been asked to self-isolate by Test and Protect because of coronavirus (COVID-19) and will lose income as a result, you may be able to get a £500 Self Isolation Support Grant. You can only apply for this grant through your local council. You can do this any time during the 28 days from the date you start to self-isolate. You can begin applying by following this link https://www.mygov.scot/self-isolation-grant/apply-through-your-local-council To get the grant all of these 4 things must apply:

• You must be told by Test and Protect or the Incident Management Team to self-isolate, or you are:

  • The parent or carer of a child under 16 who has been told to self-isolate.

  • Caring for someone over 16 who has been told to self-isolate

  • You must be employed or self-employed.

  • You will lose income because you cannot work from home.

You must be on a low income or getting one of these benefits:

• Universal Credit
  
• Working Tax Credit
  
• Income-based Employment and Support Allowance
  
• Income-based Jobseeker's Allowance
  
• Income Support
  
• Housing Benefit
  
• Pension Credit
  
• Council Tax Reduction

This grant will help pay for essential costs, such as food, gas, electricity, clothing or emergency travel if you:

• Are experiencing extreme financial hardship.
  
• Have lost your job.
  
• Have applied for benefits and are waiting for your first payment.
  
• You cannot use it to pay for ongoing bills that you cannot afford to pay.

To be eligible for the Emergency Assistance Payment, you must:

• Be in extreme financial hardship. For example you've lost your job, applied for benefits and you are waiting for your first payment, or you have no money to buy food, gas and electricity.
  
• Be In a crisis situation and in need of immediate financial support.
  
• Live in Wales.
  
• Be over 16.
  
• Have no other money. For example, you must have no savings, and have considered all other legal and responsible lenders such as credit unions.

This grant can help you or someone you care for live independently in their home or a property that you or they are moving into. You can use the grant to pay for:

• A fridge, cooker or washing machine and other ‘white goods’.
  
• Home furniture such as beds, sofas and chairs.

To be eligible for the Individual Assistance Payment (IAP) you must:

• Only apply for a fridge, cooker or washing machine (white goods) and furniture through an approved partner.
  
• Live in Wales.
  
• Be over 16.
  
• Have no access to other money and tried all other affordable sources of funding for example credit union.
  
• Not be living in a care home (unless being discharged in 6 weeks).
  
• Not be in prison (unless being discharged in 6 weeks).
  
• Not be a member of a fully maintained religious order.

You must be getting one of the following:

• Income Support
  
• income based Jobseekers Allowance
  
• income related Employment and Support Allowance
  
• Guarantee Credit element of Pension Credit
  
• Universal Credit You must also meet one of the following:
  
• You are leaving a care home or institution (hospital, prison or foster carer) after 3 months (minimum) to live independently.
  
• You want to stay living in the community rather than having to go into an institution (hospital or care home).
  
• You are setting up home after an unsettled way of life.
  
• You need to move home quickly due to a relationship breakdown or domestic violence.
  
• You are going to care for a prisoner or young offender released on a temporary license.

If you are in financial hardship during the 5 week-wait for first payment of UC you may be able to get a grant from the Universal Credit Contingency Fund to support you through this period. This may be preferable than taking out an Advance Payment (which will have to be repaid).

• This is a non-repayable grant.

• Once paid, another discretionary support grant for living costs cannot normally be paid for another 12 months.

• An application can be made by contacting Discretionary Support at nidirect.gov.uk/services/claim-discretionary-support or on 0800 5872 750.

Financial support may be available for short-term living expenses if you have a positive Covid-19 diagnosis or you are in self-isolation. A non-repayable Discretionary Support Self Isolation Grant may be available to you if you are on a low income and are experiencing financial difficulties as a result of being told to self-isolate. This grant will include a specific amount for any children in your household and may be made for periods of more than 14 days. Check out if you are eligible for the Discretionary Support self-isolation grant at https://www.nidirect.gov.uk/articles/extra-financial-support#toc-2 and apply as soon as possible once you have started to self-isolate.

If you receive a sanction, you might be able to apply for a hardship payment. This payment is recoverable and should therefore be considered a loan.

• You can get a hardship payment if you (and your partner):

  • are 18 year old or over

  • have met any compliance condition specified by the Department

  • provide evidence to support your claim if asked.

  • accept that any hardship payment is recoverable

  • have met all your work-related requirements in the seven days before you applied for the hardship payment

  • are in hardship. This means that you cannot meet your immediate and most basic and essential needs of accommodation, heating, food and hygiene, or those of a child or qualifying young person you or your partner are responsible for, because of a sanction. This also means that you have made every effort to get alternative sources of support to help meet those needs and you have made every effort to stop spending money on anything that does not relate to those needs.

• You will not be entitled to a hardship payment if your ‘daily reduction rate’ is at the 40% reduced rate.

• The hardship payment period begins on the day you meet the conditions for payment and ends the day before your next UC payday. If you are still in hardship after this you must make another application.

• If you start paid work, recovery of your hardship payment may be suspended. It will be written off completely if recovery is suspended for six months.

• If you are denied a hardship payment you can challenge this decision. Contact an advice agency for support.

You may want to consider applying for this loan to deal with one-off emergency expenses.

• It is only available if you have been receiving UC for at least six months.

• You must have earned less than £2600 (for single claimants) or £3600 (for joint claims) in the six months preceding the date of application for the Budgeting Advance.

• It is not available if there is still any outstanding amount to be repaid from a previous Budgeting Advance, and the Department must be sure that you can repay it.

• The minimum amount is £100

• The maximum amount for a single claimant with no children is £348

• The maximum amount for a couple with no children is £464

• The maximum amount for a single parent or couples with children is £812

• The Budgeting Advance Loan will be recovered directly from your UC payments.