New AI tool forms part of crisis fund strategy in East Riding

An artificial intelligence tool will help East Riding residents to find the help they need more quickly, plans agreed by the authority reveal. The digital AI tool will deliver a ‘no wrong door’ approach to improving access to support.

East Riding Council bosses are spending £60,000 on the AI innovation and hope the measure will ‘help to identify gaps in provision and reduce duplication across services’. In addition, the authority is going to spend £89,457 on digital devices to help local people receive crisis support.

The funding for digital devices could include provision of devices, connectivity or assisted digital support where lack of access is a barrier to local people applying for help, managing benefits, accessing debt or budgeting advice, improving employability or maintaining contact with support services. A cabinet meeting heard how the provision of devices will be targeted at low-income and vulnerable households and linked to wider advice and resilience support, so that digital access helps reduce exclusion and supports longer-term financial stability.

The funding and support was debated as part of East Riding Council’s Crisis and Resilience Fund (CRF) activity. It is intended to support low-income and vulnerable residents who are experiencing financial hardship, helping them to meet immediate essential needs.

The CRF provides practical assistance, strengthening financial resilience, reducing repeat hardship and improving access to advice, support services and community-based help. The Department for Work and Pensions introduced the CRF in April 2026, replacing the old Household Support Fund.

Almost £4million to spend on people in crisis

East Riding Council was awarded £3.839m for 2026/27. A similar amount will be awarded to the authority in 2027/28 and 2028/29.

According to the refreshed new strategy, crisis payments (including free school meals) will take up just over 50 per cent of the budget. Resilience services will form 31.7% of the budget, housing payments 8.6%, community coordination taking 2.4% and administration 5.6%.

Planned resilience services will include debt advice, budgeting support, affordable credit, heating support and wider wraparound help. A small part of the strategy will see money spent on low income and vulnerable households with practical measures to improve warmth, safety and energy affordability.

This will include heating-related support, repairs or replacement. Loft and cavity wall insulation to help reduce energy use and improve longer-term household resilience will also be offered to targeted households.

The cabinet meeting heard how the strategy shifts support from reactive crisis response to earlier, better connected support. ‘It will help residents access the right help sooner, reduce repeat crisis and support the Council’s wider prevention priorities,’ council documents state.

Investing in prevention

Cllr Nigel Wilkinson (Conservative – Howdenshire ward) welcomed the strategic shift from one-off crisis support to a more joined-up approach and said it empowered people to improve their own lives. He told the cabinet meeting: “This is a shift from reactive crisis support. It still gives immediate support and help where needed but invests in prevention – giving people the financial resilience that is needed.

“Give a man a fish that feeds him for a day, while teaching him how to fish feeds him for a lifetime.” The council document identifies Goole, the East Yorkshire Wolds & coastal Hornsea, and north Holderness & rural Holderness as the three regions most in need of crisis support.

Part of the crisis strategy will be on housing: preventing homelessness, sustaining tenancies and reducing gaps between housing support. The authority’s crisis strategy will be delivered mainly through the voluntary, community and social enterprise sector, with East Riding Council infrastructure providing coordination and oversight.

A ‘no wrong door’ approach

East Riding Council will use the Low Income Family Tracker, which is intelligent data analytics used by around 100 local authorities around the country, to identify households most in need. The strategy makes clear it also expects families to access support through self-referral, foodbanks, community venues, family hubs and GP settings.

“The ‘no wrong door’ approach means the first organisation or service a resident contacts should help them find the right support, even if that organisation is not the one that ultimately delivers the help,” the strategy states. Crisis payments will continue to provide short-term help to residents experiencing an immediate crisis or sudden financial shock. It could mean council help with food, fuel, utilities, clothing, accommodation, white goods and other essential items.

Changes to free school meals and holiday vouchers

The provision of free school meals is also changing. The Department for Education expanded eligibility this month, so that all children from households receiving Universal Credit are eligible for free school meals

This means East Riding Council is changing its strategic approach to holiday vouchers, which previously gave parents £15 per week per pupil during school holidays to help with food bills. For October, December 2026, February and March (Easter) 2027 school holidays, East Riding Council are planning to offer support for all eligible households below the universal credit income threshold, but at a reduced rate of £10 per pupil, per week.

From the summer of 2027 onwards the holiday voucher support will move to individual applications through the authority’s Crisis Payments scheme. “The phased approach set out above will allow time to move away from automatic support, communicate the changes to households and signpost families to resilience services to support longer-term financial wellbeing,” the council’s strategy states.

“The move towards more targeted crisis and resilience support will need careful communication and monitoring, particularly for families previously receiving free school meal holiday support.” In addition, the authority will continue to provide top-up payments to support eligible low-income households with the cost of oil/LPG for properties not connected to the main gas supply. And it will continue funding local food banks.

‘A hand-up, not hand-outs’

Cllr Anne Handley (Conservative – Goole North) chaired the meeting and welcomed the report, stating the cabinet were happy with recommendations as written. “This is about giving people a hand-up, not hand-outs,” she told the meeting.

“I can safely sit here and say we are giving people a hand-up to see them access jobs, training courses, evening classes. I am quite proud we have been part of this – giving people a hand-up in life is what we should be doing. If we’re giving people a handout forever then they can become reliant on it.”

Finally, the council are hopeful the strategy will improve health and wellbeing around the East Riding. “The proposal is expected to support health and wellbeing by reducing the stress and practical harm caused by financial crisis, food insecurity, fuel poverty, debt and housing instability. Support for heating, essential household items, debt advice, income maximisation and tenancy sustainment can help reduce risks to physical and mental wellbeing, particularly for vulnerable residents and older people,” the report concludes.