Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether the new Crisis and Resilience Fund will encourage local authorities to offer direct provision of furniture and white goods to those in need; and will the guidance explain the benefits of furniture provision in building up resilience for extremely low-income households.

The new Crisis and Resilience Fund will be introduced from 1 April 2026. This represents the first ever multi-year settlement for locally delivered crisis support. This longer-term funding approach aims to enable local authorities to provide preventative support to communities – working with the voluntary and community sector – as well as assisting people when faced with a financial crisis

We plan to publish guidance for the Crisis and Resilience Fund in January 2026.