Crisis Grants

Queries about progress of your applicationPlease note that the Scottish Welfare Fund team are experiencing an unprecedented number of applications and queries at the current time. We fully understand and appreciate that your application may be urgent, but we would respectfully ask that you do not phone or email us about the progress of your application as this will only distract our resources which could otherwise be used to process applications. Please be assured we are processing all applications as quickly as we possibly can. We will contact you direct using your preferred method of contact. To ensure fairness to all applicants we deal with all correspondence by date of receipt. 

A Crisis Grant can help if you need money quickly because of an emergency or disaster, particularly if there is a threat to your health or safety. An emergency could be that your money has been lost of stolen or there has been a relationship breakdown and you have nowhere to stay. A disaster could be there has been a serious flood or fire that has damaged your property.

Examples of the types of items you can get a grant for include:

• food
• heating costs
• toiletries
• travel costs
• costs for temporary accommodation

Grants are available to people who do not have any other way of paying for what they need. As they are grants, they do not need to be paid back.

Applicants should be aged 16 or over and should normally be entitled to or receiving:

• Income Support
• Income based Jobseeker's Allowance
• Income related Employment and Support Allowance
• Universal Credit
• Savings Pension Credit
• Guaranteed Pension Credit
• A payment in respect of one of the above benefits whilst the claim is being processed

However, whilst being in receipt of one of these benefits satisfies the eligibility test for a grant, it is not essential.

The key eligibility test is the severity of the applicant's situation and the likely impact on them and their family of not getting a grant.

How to apply

If you are applying online you may need to allow pop-ups. To do this, select 'Options' when prompted followed by 'Always Allow'.

Apply for a Crisis Grant

Alternatively you can complete the Scottish Welfare Fund application form (PDF 124KB) and send it to:

Aberdeenshire Council
PO Box 18533
Inverurie
AB51 5WX

You can also apply by telephone on 01467 537400.

View the Scottish Welfare Fund privacy notice (PDF 197KB).

Once your application is received a decision should be made no later than the end of the next working day.

Contact us

You can contact the Benefits team by email, phone or post.