Crisis and Resilience Fund Hub Delivery

The Department for Work and Pensions introduced the Crisis and Resilience Fund from 1 April 2026. The Fund provides local authorities with funding to support households experiencing financial hardship or an unexpected financial shock and to help residents build longer-term financial resilience. Southwark Council is developing a hub-and-spoke model to support the delivery of the Resilience Services and Community Coordination elements of the Fund.

The Council is considering commissioning a Hub Delivery Organisation (HDO) to provide a central and accessible route into financial-resilience support for Southwark residents. The Council will retain responsibility for administering Council-managed crisis and housing-related payments, determining eligibility, making formal decisions on applications for financial assistance and submitting formal management-information returns to the Department for Work and Pensions.

Further information about the emerging HDO service model, the areas being considered, local delivery and accessibility, case management, reporting, and the indicative contract value and duration is set out in the accompanying Draft Service Specification.

The final scope and delivery model have not been determined. Therefore, the Council is carry out a Preliminary Market Engagement (PME) where respondents are invited to use the information provided via the portal, see engagement process description further down in this notice. Respondents are requested to use both documents when completing the questionnaire and should clearly state any assumptions made in their responses.