Financial Resilience Project

Between August 2025 and January 2026, the project ran 14 campaigns to encourage take up of relevant support, leading to 259 households accessing additional help and income that they weren’t previously.

Examples include:

• Additional £1.24m combined lifetime income for 21 households through Pension Credit take up, which equates to an average annual income boost of £4,309 per household. An average annual income boost of £4,693 for 29 households through take up of the Attendance Allowance, which equates to a total additional lifetime income of £914,130.
• 60 households moved onto Free School Meals, securing £82,980 additional pupil premium for schools and household savings of £27,100.
• The highest percentage increase in NHS Healthy Start registered users for any English borough for the month of August 2025, securing an estimated £76,752 additional income for households (or an average of £2,952 per household over an anticipated award life of approximately two-and-a-half years).
• 26 households registered for the Warm Homes Local Grant, with 13 properties already with grant funding approved for energy efficiency improvements to the value of £240,539.
• 175 households receiving a total of £39,600 through the Household Support Fund (round seven) via direct payments (totalling £25,100) or supermarket vouchers (totalling £14,500).

The increase in targeted contact with these households also opened up access to other far-reaching services. For example, 10 households were invited to contact the Council’s Money Support team for one-to-one support and five households were added to its Downsizing Scheme register to be able to move into more appropriately sized properties, reducing their bills and leaving them with more money each month.