Get help through Hackney Here to Help

If you cannot afford food or to heat your home, you can apply for a Crisis Payment for short-term help.

This help is for residents most in need. You need to have had an unexpected change in income, or expense that could not have been predicted. You cannot pay routine bills with this payment. 

You do not need to be on benefits to apply, but you must be on a low income and not have savings to cover your needs. We’ll ask you for you and your partner’s bank statements to show you’re in financial need.

We’ll contact you to help you review your financial situation. 

Crisis Payments for urgent daily living costs are funded by the Government’s Crisis and Resilience Fund.

We may be able to help you buy furniture and essential appliances such as cookers, fridges and beds, if you cannot afford to buy them.

You do not need to be on benefits to apply, but you must be on a low income and not have savings to cover your needs.

We may also be able to help if one of the following applies to you:

• you're leaving temporary accommodation
• you're leaving prison or institutional care
• you have a medical need for a specific appliance

Washing machines and flooring are not considered essential, unless you have a specific disability or medical need.

We’ll contact you to help you review your financial situation.

Help for essential home appliances is funded by the Government’s Crisis and Resilience Fund.

We cannot reimburse if you’ve already bought the item, even if you’ve borrowed money to do so.

If you have no option but to move house, we can help you move. 

You must apply before the move. 

The property you’re moving from must be in the borough of Hackney or temporary accommodation we provide outside the borough.

Your new property must be affordable.

We’ll arrange all removals. We cannot reimburse you if you’ve already arranged your own removals.

We may help with rent and deposits. We can only help if you get Housing Benefit or the housing element of Universal Credit.

The following must apply:

• you must be registered for Housing Benefit or Universal Credit housing costs at the address you’re moving from
• the address you’re moving from must be in the borough of Hackney or temporary accommodation we provide outside the borough
• the address you’re moving to must be affordable – this means at or slightly above the Local Housing Allowance Rate for the area
• you must apply before you move into the property
• you must have found a property to move into before applying for help
• you must not have savings which could be used to pay the deposit

Payments are normally released directly to the new landlord, once the tenancy agreement is signed.

Help with rent arrears or if your benefits do not cover your rent

We may be able to pay part of your rent arrears if you get Housing Benefit or the Housing element of Universal Credit. 

We can also help with a one-off payment if your Housing Benefit or Universal Credit Housing element is not enough to cover your rent. We’ll consider ways you are trying to improve your housing situation when we make a decision about helping you with rent arrears.

We cannot:

• clear rent arrears caused by breaks in benefit claims
• clear rent arrears if you’ve been paid money for your rent in your Universal Credit and not paid it to your landlord
• clear shortfalls caused by not paying personal service charges (like gas, electric and water) or due to the recovery of benefit overpayments

You can apply for Council Tax Reduction if you’re on a low income or get Universal Credit. 

If you're struggling to apply for Council Tax Reduction, we can help you apply. 

Apply to Here to Help to request help. You can also ask us for short term help to pay.

These policy documents give more information about what we consider when you apply and how we decide if we can pay.

Council Tax Reduction Discretionary Fund policy (Google Doc)

Housing Payments policy (PDF 2MB)

Discretionary Crisis Support Scheme policy (PDF 224KB)

Crisis Payment Scheme policy (Google Doc)