Community resilience fund

You can apply for this fund if your income or outgoings have been impacted by coronavirus.

We particularly want to hear from you if you have not already had government financial support during the pandemic.

You can find how to get information and apply for the fund in other languages.

When you can apply for the fund

There are many reasons why you may be finding it difficult to cope financially because of coronavirus.

These include:

• being made redundant
• a cut in working hours
• owning a business that has been closed due to lockdown
• increased living costs
• a cut in income

You may not have met the criteria to apply for other schemes.

This fund is flexible and can give you support for your immediate or long-term needs.

To apply for the fund, you must:

• live in South Gloucestershire
• be over the age of 16
• be able to show how coronavirus has had a negative impact on your finances

You can still apply if you have savings.

If you have savings of over £6,000 we will want to know why you are unable to use that money to help your situation.

What you can use the fund for

The fund can pay out in different ways.

Emergency payments

This is for things you need immediately, like:

• food
• travel costs (for example, to work or an interview)
• payment for gas, electric or water that may be disconnected
• emergency rent or mortgage payment needed to stop you losing your home (if you have already had all the support available from your lender or landlord)

Longer term support

This is for when you are struggling to pay for things, but it is not an emergency. For example, you may need help to pay an energy bill, but your supply is not about to be cut off.

It includes:

• gas, electric or water bills
• council tax payments
• mortgage or rent payments
• credit cards
• loans
• travel costs

How to apply for the fund

Apply for the community resilience fund

If you are unable to apply online you can get a copy of the form. 

To do this:

• visit one of our one stop shops
• call the Citizens Advice Bureau on 01454 334961
• call our contact centre on 01454 868009

You can read our privacy notice to find out how we protect your data.

Someone else can fill in the form for you.  If your application is approved and we decide to pay you money into a bank account, it must be your account.

What happens after you apply for the fund

If you have applied for an emergency payment you will hear from us within 2 working days.

You will be asked to explain how the coronavirus pandemic has impacted you and why you need emergency support.

Please tell us what has happened and how this has impacted on your financial situation. 

If you have applied for longer term support you will hear from us within 5 working days. We will assess your situation to find out if you are eligible.

You will need to send us:

• proof of your home address
• proof of the bill or finance you need help with
• banks statements for all your accounts covering the last 2 months

This can be done by email to crf@southglos.gov.uk or by visiting one of our one stop shops.

If we are paying money into your bank account and you are overdrawn, you can tell your bank that the money we give you is to pay a bill.

They can arrange for our payment to be set aside instead of it being used to reduce your overdraft.

Your benefit payments 

You must declare any money given to you through the community resilience fund as part of your Universal Credit (UC) assessment.

It will not make any difference to your UC payment.

Your right to appeal

You (or someone representing you) can appeal if:

• your application has been unsuccessful
• you are not happy with the way we paid you the money or who we paid it to
• you are not happy with the amount of money we have given you
• we have cancelled a payment due to misuse or fraud and you do not agree with this

The appeal must be made verbally or in writing within 7 days of our decision.

You must tell us why you feel the decision is unfair and give supporting evidence.

Your appeal will be reviewed by a senior officer within 14 days of us getting it.

Other things that can help

One You – getting enough to eat
Our financial support for residents