Financial Resilience Project

We’re using a tool called LIFT (Low Income Family Tracker) to target support to residents who may be missing out on help and may be at risk of or experiencing financial hardship.

This helps us to:

• Have a better understanding of the needs of low-income households
• Take earlier action to support households
• Reduce challenges that households have with things like debt, homelessness, and unemployment

In its first year, the project led to a combined annual income boost of £623k for households and schools across the borough. In March 2026, we committed to continue the project for another year.

Find out more about the first year of the project.

How LIFT works

LIFT uses existing data from our Housing Benefit and Council Tax systems to help us recognise households who may be missing out on support.

We can then contact households by letter, text message, or phone call, using the information that they have already given us, to help them access support that they may be entitled to. We may also work with trusted partners to ensure that households receive the right support; where we do this we will always adhere to the rules of GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation).

Data and privacy

You can read our Privacy notice which explains how the Council manages your data.