July 2026
Gateshead Council is launching a grant funding programme using the Crisis and Resilience Fund (provided by UK Government - Department for Work and Pensions) to support local organisations to increase the financial resilience of Gateshead residents and households.
The grant programme opportunity is aimed at local Voluntary, Community, Faith and Social Enterprise (VCFSE) organisations to fund their work supporting individual and community financial resilience.
Alongside the grants programme Gateshead Council will provide:
- a programme of training (including Advice First Aid, poverty awareness, and person-centred and trauma-informed approaches to delivering support)
- tools including a Gateshead focused Money Advice Referral Tool and Worrying About Money leaflet
- partnership building and networking events to help build the capacity and capability of local community organisations to provide early help, advice and support to residents
- the ability to 'warm refer' into specialist services as required
Key criteria
The services, activities and projects that apply for funding must clearly demonstrate how they will deliver against at least 1 of the 7 resilience services outcomes and they will need to evidence the impact they are having through capturing monitoring and evaluation data.
- reduced experiences of material deprivation
- reduced need for emergency food parcels
- increased access to appropriate and quality advice services
- increased savings
- reduction in debt, especially priority debt
- maximisation of individuals' incomes
- decreased need for Crisis Payments and Housing Payments
Grant funding programme timeline for remainder of 2026 to 2027 financial year
Initial grant agreements will run from 1 September 2026 to 31 March 2028 (19-month period). They will be awarded in 6-month instalments on receipt of the previous period's monitoring information, outcomes evidence and satisfactory performance against delivery numbers and spend.
- Friday 17 July - Grant application form and guidance published and grant applications open - online form using Microsoft Forms
- Monday 17 August (5pm) - Grant application deadline
- Thursday 20 August - Grant assessment and awards panel
- 24 and 25 August - Decisions communication to applying organisations followed by provision of grant agreements for signing
- 1 September - CRF funded activity to commence by or soon after 1 September
- 1 to 30 September - First month of delivery and opportunity to collect 1 month's monitoring information
- Early October - Deadline for first month's monitoring information
- 1 October to 31 March - 6 months of delivery
- Early April 2027 - Deadline for October 2026 to March 2027 monitoring information and outcomes evidence.
- 1 April 2027 to 31 March 2028 - Delivery of next 12 months' CRF resilience services activity (6-month monitoring and reporting due following September 2027 and March 2028)
More information
Two information sessions were held on the grant funding programme in early July, along with an online session providing information and examples of best-practice projects and tools that organisations can access.
Slides from CRF Resilience Grant Funding information event 14 July (PDF, 3 MB)
You might also find it useful to watch this video from Gateshead Food Partnership on 'Beyond Food Banks - from Crisis to Resilience' (12 minutes):
Beyond the Food Bank - from Crisis to Resilience
Apply for the CRF Resilience Service funding
The submission deadline is 5pm on Monday 17 August.
Questions or queries
If you have any questions after reading the guidance and application form, email [email protected]
