{"id":122906,"date":"2026-07-13T12:15:00","date_gmt":"2026-07-13T11:15:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/uk\/?p=122906"},"modified":"2026-07-13T11:07:16","modified_gmt":"2026-07-13T10:07:16","slug":"200-support-payments-continue-new-fund","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/uk\/200-support-payments-continue-new-fund\/","title":{"rendered":"\u00a3200 Support Payments Continue under New Fund as Burnham Signals Cost-Of-Living Action"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

At the same time, councils are accepting applications for assistance through the Crisis and Resilience Fund, which has replaced the Household Support Fund <\/strong>in some areas. The scheme is intended to help people struggling to afford essential living costs, including food and energy bills.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rising household expenses remain a major political issue, with Burnham and his advisers indicating that immediate financial relief would be among the new government’s early priorities. According to the BBC, policy discussions have focused on increasing disposable income for lower-income households<\/strong> while addressing the cost of essential services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Crisis and Resilience Fund Continues to Provide Emergency Household Support<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Households experiencing financial difficulties can apply for assistance through their local council under the Crisis and Resilience Fund (CRF). The fund is designed to support people who are unable to meet the cost of necessities such as food, gas and electricity, and eligibility is not limited to people receiving state benefits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to BirminghamLive, applicants do not need to be claiming Universal Credit or any other benefit to seek support. Each application is assessed on its individual circumstances<\/strong>, although households considered to be in the greatest need, including some families with young children, may be given priority.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The CRF replaces the previous Household Support Fund. Under the earlier scheme, Birmingham City Council distributed grants worth \u00a3200. Birmingham Voluntary Service Council<\/a>, which administers applications on behalf of the local authority, said the enquiry and application process remains unchanged <\/strong>despite the transition to the new fund.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The organisation also confirmed that people who successfully submitted enquiries after the current scheme opened on 1 May 2026 have been placed on a waiting list. It said local teams will contact applicants using the details they have already provided once their cases are processed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Burnham Adviser Outlines Plans to Address Living Costs<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Burnham is expected to become Labour leader next week before taking office as prime minister on 20 July<\/strong>, after receiving nominations from the overwhelming majority of Labour MPs to succeed Sir Keir Starmer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the BBC, Labour MP Miatta Fahnbulleh<\/a>, who has been advising Burnham on policy, said an incoming government would concentrate on “dealing with the cost of living in the short term” in order to provide households with what she described as “some respite”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fahnbulleh said she expected that people “at the bottom” would have “more money in their pockets” under a Burnham government, while adding that specific policy decisions<\/strong> would ultimately be made by Burnham and his chancellor. She also argued that housing<\/a>, energy and transport had become too expensive and said there was a need to make these essentials more affordable through greater public control.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speaking previously on LBC, Burnham said the government needed to be “serious about putting more money back into people’s pockets”. According to the BBC, he also suggested there was “some room” for changes to taxation and indicated he would consider reducing business rates for some high street businesses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The BBC also reported that newspaper reports have suggested Burnham could introduce a package of cost-of-living support within the first few weeks of taking office, while the Financial Times<\/strong> reported that proposals under consideration include immediate support for energy bills and transport costs. Fahnbulleh, however, declined to discuss specific measures, saying those decisions would rest with Burnham once in office.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Andy Burnham is expected to prioritise measures aimed at easing cost-of-living pressures if he becomes prime minister next week, while local authorities continue operating a new emergency support scheme for households facing financial hardship.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":122908,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[44],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-122906","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","generate-columns","tablet-grid-50","mobile-grid-100","grid-parent","grid-33","no-featured-image-padding"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122906","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=122906"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122906\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":122907,"href":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122906\/revisions\/122907"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/122908"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=122906"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=122906"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=122906"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}