Council urged to do much more to help those in need
Council urged to do much more to help those in need
Bedford Borough Council’s Crisis and Resilience Fund (CRF) has still not been finalised. This is despite receiving £2.5 million from Central Government from April 2026.
Councillor Henry Vann commented, “Other councils have already made decisions on this. This is because the Government made it clear that all delivery plans for the Fund should be submitted to the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) by 1 July 2026.
Instead, our Council website states:
‘We're currently gathering information to help decide what the scheme will look like. We're aiming for our scheme to start by June 2026, following approval from the Council's Executive.’
Well, we’re now in July, and still nothing has been done. I urge the Mayor to finalise this policy with extreme urgency.
Helping vulnerable people is one of our key priorities as a council. People are facing a cost-of-living crisis and families are facing the long summer holidays without any support on offer from this vital source. The fact that this Fund has neither yet been finalised nor publicised is absolutely disgraceful.”