Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how his Department is working with local authorities to ensure they are equipped to deliver the Crisis and Resilience Fund from 1 April 2026.

My Department has actively engaged with stakeholders on the design for the new Crisis and Resilience Fund through a structured co-design process. This has involved a representative group of local authorities, third-party organisations and academics. The concluding event on 22 October 2025 was attended by over 750 stakeholders.

We plan to publish guidance in January 2026. Provisional allocations will be published as part of the provisional Local Government Finance Settlement, ahead of the scheme going live in April 2026.