Help in a short-term crisis

We are receiving a large amount of applications at this time and decisions are taking longer than normal. We appreciate your patience and we will contact you as soon as possible.

Birmingham's Local Welfare Provision (LWP) scheme helps vulnerable people in short-term crisis with food and essential items. It is grant-based, which means people who receive help from it will not have to repay anything. It is not intended to replace the councils statutory duties.

The scheme is funded on an annual basis and once the fund has been exhausted for that financial year, there will be no further awards.

The scheme is purely discretionary and people have no statutory right to an award.

For more details on how the scheme is operated, look at the Local Welfare Provision policy.

The Council's Benefit Service administers the Local Welfare Provision payments that enable the Council to provide financial support for vulnerable people in the city who find themselves in financial crisis.

There are 2 types of payment made from this provision:

• Crisis payments are made to citizens to meet their needs for subsistence in terms of essential food and or clothing.
• Community support grants are paid to citizens to meet their immediate needs for essential furniture or white goods to sustain their housing needs and to gain greater independence within the community.