Crisis and Resilience Fund Dispersal

Description

The Crisis and Resilience Fund (CRF) will open in Leicestershire on 1 April 2026. Funding, received by central government, is to provide financial support to residents who are experiencing immediate financial crisis. The Council's requirement is to be cash first but not cash only. Therefore, we require a system that is able to safely deposit cash payments into the bank account of residents. We also require the ability to provide open loop vouchers for food and fuel and cash vouchers or ATM cash options when necessary. We require the system to provide a solution that is not open to copycat scams or fraud. The council sends clear communications to residents not to click on links requesting bank details and therefore the system needs to be able to make secure cash payments into a bank account without residents being required to do this. An indicative budget of the total budget for cash and voucher awards is estimated to be between £3,000,000 and £3,500,000 each year. The contract period envisaged is 1 year, plus options to extend for up to two additional years (likely on a +1+1 basis).