Who benefits this April? CRF delivery, energy support and new insights, plus 9 vacancies

The government has announced over £50 million extra CRF funding to help low income households meet the rising cost of heating oil. Councils now face a practical challenge: how to quickly identify households using off-grid energy, target support effectively, and deliver it at pace.

Policy in Practice has been working with local authorities to develop a data led approach. By linking benefits data with EPC and Census data in LIFT, councils can identify households most likely to rely on oil heating and prioritise those facing the greatest financial pressure.

Using this approach, we supported South Cambridgeshire District Council to identify around 1,500 eligible households most likely to be affected by rising oil prices, enabling targeted outreach as funding is released.

Councils already using LIFT: contact your Client Services manager to run a heating oil campaign now
Councils not yet using LIFT: book a demo and discuss how to get started
Read more CRF-related case studies

Next month, we're launching new research with Kingston University, National Children's Bureau and University of Sussex for the Nuffield Foundation, showing powerful new insights into the relationship between financial hardship and safeguarding outcomes.

The research links over 100,000 benefits and children's social care records from six local authorities to explore how financial insecurity shapes demand for children's services, and what this means for both policy and practice.

At a time of growing pressure on children's services, understanding the role of financial hardship is critical to designing effective early intervention and prevention strategies.

Join us on 30 April, either online or in person, to hear from speakers from the Department for Education, research authors and local authority leaders.

A range of policy changes come into effect this April, including increases to the State Pension and Universal Credit, alongside wider cost of living support for low income households.

Frontline organisations must apply these changes quickly and accurately. The impact will vary across households, with some seeing only partial gains, or none at all, due to interactions with the benefit cap, local scheme design and other factors.

At the same time, councils are moving into delivery of the Crisis and Resilience Fund, with budget now received and pressure to identify need, target support and make payments at pace.

This requires a clear view of who benefits from April's changes, who remains financially vulnerable, and how to get support to those households quickly.

Policy in Practice supports this end to end, from automatically reflecting policy changes in the Better Off Calculator as they go live, to identifying households in need, targeting support and delivering cash payments efficiently using LIFT and Campaign Manager.

Ask how we can help you deliver April's changes and your CRF operation

This month Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN) has partnered with Policy in Practice to help identify and protect vulnerable households during power cuts by embedding Priority Services Register (PSR) eligibility directly into benefit checks.

Advisors using the Better Off Calculator are now automatically prompted when a household meets the criteria for PSR in SSEN regions, removing the need for separate applications and allowing households to access both financial support and operational protection in a single interaction.

The approach supports Ofgem's ambition for a more proactive, share once model across the utilities sector.

Read the full announcement

This month Welfare Together has partnered with Policy in Practice to offer creditors an end to end income maximisation service for vulnerable customers.

Policy in Practice's Better Off Calculator identifies unclaimed benefits, but for some customers, knowing what they are entitled to is only part of the journey. Through this partnership, Welfare Together provides one to one support to help customers navigate applications and access the support available to them.

The partnership helps close the gap between identifying entitlement and ensuring support is actually received, supporting more sustainable outcomes for customers in arrears.

Read the full announcement

Cotswold District Council has highlighted the impact of its targeted data driven approach to supporting residents, helping more than 9,300 people access over £341,000 in financial support since December 2024.

Using LIFT, the programme identifies households at risk of financial hardship and enables proactive outreach with tailored advice and support. A Pension Credit campaign alone helped 96 residents secure £339,000, with an estimated £1.9 million boost to the local economy over time.

Across 17 targeted campaigns, support has also helped households reduce energy and water costs and increase take up of Council Tax Reduction and other benefits, driving improvements in financial resilience.

Jane Portman, Chief Executive Officer at Cotswold District Council, said, "This programme shows the real impact proactive, data led support can have. By identifying residents who may be struggling before they reach crisis point, we've helped thousands of households access financial support quickly and easily. It is about putting money directly into people's pockets and strengthening the wellbeing of our communities."

Read the full story

We're delighted that Reigate and Banstead Borough Council won Best use of data or research in a district council at the LARIA Research Impact Awards 2026, for powering life changing support for residents through intelligent data insight.

Using LIFT, the council proactively identified households in need and delivered targeted income maximisation at scale, helping unlock almost £3.4 million for residents. Their work is a leading example of how data can be turned into real financial impact for communities by local councils.

Read the full case study

This month Deven Ghelani spoke on BBC Radio Kent about a challenge many Councillors are struggling with: how to explain the removal of school holiday vouchers as support shifts from the Household Support Fund to the Crisis and Resilience Fund.

Drawing on our work with Trussell, Deven highlighted that, while vouchers were effective for rapid, short term support, they often relied on blanket delivery. With CRF funding now in place for three years, councils have an opportunity to take a more targeted, data led approach.

Using tools like LIFT, councils can identify households most in need and connect crisis support with wider help, including income maximisation and ongoing support.

For residents, support remains available through local councils from April, alongside more proactive outreach to those who need it most.

Listen to the interview below

Policy in Practice's work with Camden Council has been highlighted in a new interim report from Nesta on the Family Hubs Pregnancy Grant pilot.

Using a data-led approach developed with Policy in Practice, Camden linked NHS and local authority data to identify low income households and proactively offer £500 grants to new mums. The report highlights how this enabled support to reach those most in need, with early findings showing reduced stress for families during pregnancy.

As Family Hubs roll out from April, the findings underline the importance of reaching families where they are. At a recent event with ministers and sector leaders, we highlighted how tools like LIFT can help local authorities target early years support more effectively and improve take up among disadvantaged families.

Read the interim report

LIFT: new debt insights and newly eligible households

New debt dashboards are now rolling out in LIFT, giving councils a clearer view of household arrears and where targeted support can improve outcomes for both residents and the local authority.

With intuitive visuals, maps and breakdowns by local area, teams can quickly identify households under financial pressure and target action. 'Newly eligible' filters show households whose circumstances have changed, helping councils target support where it can make the biggest immediate difference.

Already got LIFT? Contact your Client Services Manager for more info

Not yet using LIFT? Ask us for a demo

Better Off Calculator: complete CTRS coverage from April

From 1 April, the Better Off Calculator will reflect all benefit uprating changes automatically, including 100% of Council Tax Reduction schemes across England, alongside national schemes in Scotland and Wales.

Already the most comprehensive benefits calculator on the market, it now models every local CTR scheme, including more complex designs, ensuring accurate results for all users. These updates are live from April with no action required.

Learn more about the Better Off Calculator

MAST: priority alerts for proactive safeguarding

Priority alerts in MAST help safeguarding partners stay one step ahead by automatically flagging new interactions for the individuals and households they support.

Instead of relying on manual searches, users can create a personalised case list and receive alerts as soon as new activity is recorded. A unified household view also links individuals and addresses, giving a clearer picture of risk. This means faster responses, better workload management, and greater confidence that no critical changes are missed.

Our Caldicott Guardian, Paul Garlick, has written a series of articles on data sharing and safeguarding best practice.

Learn more about MAST