Discretionary Local Crisis Payments (DLCP)
We now administer the scheme for customers who would have normally sought help from the Department of Work and Pensions Social Fund scheme.
This scheme is in place to:
- Help households to establish themselves in the community following a stay in institutional or residential care
- Help households remain in the community instead of entering institutional or residential care
- Ease exceptional pressures and stress on households
- Avoid serious risk to health and safety where it may be prevented.
A household is defined as a unit of individuals who live together and who are socially and financially dependent on or for one another. Full application criteria are detailed within our Discretionary local crisis payments (DLCP) policy.
Download and read the Discretionary Local Crisis Payments (DLCP) 2021 policy
Examples of where we may assist are:
- Household facing exceptional stress i.e. family/marital breakdown
- Household facing exceptional pressure i.e. partner or child with a disability, replacement of items damaged by a family member with challenging behaviour
- Households with unexpected expenses i.e. food costs will be referred to our local foodbank.
If you have any queries about the process, you can call us 020 8583 2000 with general enquiries but the call centre will not be able to give you any update on any application you have made at present.
If you want to query an application, please email the Helping Hands Team
