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Crisis Resilience Fund - Eligibility & Resilience Services

Hampshire County Council

This public procurement record has 3 releases in its history.

TenderCancellation

28 Jul 2026 at 16:22

UK12 - Procurement Termination Notice
Tender

25 Jun 2026 at 12:26

UK4 - Tender Notice
Planning

18 May 2026 at 15:35

UK2 - Preliminary Market Engagement Notice
Summary of the contracting process

Hampshire County Council sought services for its Crisis and Resilience Fund, supporting households experiencing financial hardship with urgent living costs and longer-term financial resilience. The requirement covered a robust digital payment solution for crisis payments, allowing applications through multiple channels and payments through trusted professional partners, council teams and commissioned providers. Related support included eligibility assessment, debt advice, income maximisation, savings advice, affordable credit and community coordination, including partnerships and referral pathways. The service was intended for vulnerable and low-income households, including pensioners, unpaid carers, care leavers, disabled people, families with children and people facing unexpected financial shocks. Delivery was across Hampshire, with the programme requiring accessible, person-centred and trauma-informed support alongside accurate management information, governance and assurance.

The procurement reached tender: Hampshire County Council invited offers through an open procedure, with electronic submission permitted in English. Enquiries closed at 12:00:59 on 10 July 2026 and bids were due by 14:00:59 on 20 July 2026. The planned award decision date was 12 August 2026. The contract was intended to run from 1 October 2026 to 31 March 2027, with one possible six-month extension to 30 September 2029. Its estimated value was £6,200,000 including and excluding tax, and the extension was valued at £1,033,333 excluding tax. The single lot was suitable for SMEs and voluntary, community or social enterprises. Evaluation was quality-based, covering eligibility, demand management, financial resilience, accessibility, partnerships, fraud prevention and mobilisation. The tender was cancelled on 28 July 2026 because additional requirements may materially change it; a new procurement is planned.

This opportunity suited providers able to operate a secure, scalable digital payment service for high-volume or fluctuating crisis demand, while supporting multiple payment routes and delivery partners. Relevant capability included rapid eligibility assessment and decision-making, timely payments, accessible services for digitally excluded and vulnerable residents, and accurate management information for council oversight and national reporting. Suppliers needed to demonstrate approaches to financial resilience and holistic support, including debt advice, income maximisation, savings advice and affordable credit, together with effective partnership working and referral pathways. Strong safeguarding of public funds, fraud prevention, audit trails, record-keeping and governance were central requirements. Providers also needed credible mobilisation, implementation and service-continuity plans, with capacity to meet mandatory funding obligations at pace. The cancelled tender may be relevant to SMEs and voluntary, community or social enterprises monitoring the replacement exercise.

How relevant is this notice?

Notice Information

Notice Title

Crisis Resilience Fund - Eligibility & Resilience Services

Notice Description

The Crisis and Resilience Fund replaces the Household Support Fund and is intended to provide crisis support to households experiencing financial hardship, helping residents meet essential living costs and build longer-term resilience. Local Authorities are required to deliver support quickly, transparently, and in a way that maintains accountability for public funds. The Fund is intended to cover a wide range of low-income households in need including pensioners, unpaid carers, care leavers, disabled people, families with children of all ages, and single-person households, and those struggling with one-off financial shocks or unforeseen events. In line with the grant criteria, the funding should be allocated across two strands: * Crisis Payments: A cash-equivalent approach to meet urgent needs (food, utilities, essential goods). This should be a multi-channel application-based process, allowing for individuals to self-refer. The fund should be available year-round, with flexible eligibility for low-income households and those facing a financial shock. Crisis payments should be person centred, trauma informed and needs based. * Resilience Services: Initiatives to build financial resilience for individuals and the community and includes services such as debt advice, income maximisation, savings advice and affordable credit. * Community Coordination: Investment in activities that connect and enhance the local support landscape - strengthening partnerships, referral pathways, and local welfare ecosystems. To deliver Crisis Payments and comply with the DWP guidance, there is a need for a robust digital payment solution that can deliver payments through multiple channels and support multiple delivery routes, including payments being made by trusted professional partners, internal teams and other commissioned providers. The payment system must reduce administrative burden, enable consistent controls across schemes, be accessible and provide accurate management information for local oversight and DWP reporting. The commissioning of a dedicated payment system will ensure the Council and trusted partners can deliver crisis payments at pace, scale provision to meet fluctuating demand, deliver payments in the most appropriate way for individuals and maintain strong governance and assurance throughout the life of the programme. The CRF Programme will run initially until 31 March 2029. HCC's allocation for 26/27 is PS11.3 million. Local authorities have the discretion to use the funding in various ways to support vulnerable households, including the distribution of crisis payments. Initial estimates indicate that up to 30% of HCC's allocation will be used for this purpose.

Lot Information

Lot 1

Renewal: There is 1 contract extension with a maximum duration of 0 year and 6 months, and a value ex VAT of PS 1,033,333

Planning Information

Hampshire County Council is seeking to understand the current market capacity and capability to deliver elements of the Crisis and Resilience Fund (CRF). This market engagement exercise is not a tender or competitive process. Information gathered will be used to inform service design, delivery models and future commissioning decisions. Responses will not be scored, and participation does not form part of any future assessment. The Authority invite interested organisations to complete a questionnaire that can be requested via the Authority's e-tendering system, In-tend. Registering on In-tend • Providers interested in completing the questionnaire are encouraged to register on In-tend at https://in-tendhost.co.uk/hampshire/ • We recommend that you refer to the e-tendering guidance for suppliers which can be found by clicking on `Information for Suppliers` at the top of the In-Tend home page. • If your organisation is not registered on the Hampshire In-tend portal, please go to the website stated above and click on the `Register` tab - registration is free. Requesting the Questionnaire • Once registered, please search AS29109 'HCC CRF Eligibility & Resilience Services'. You will be able to download the Questionnaire from here which is a Word document. • Please complete your organisation details and answer all questions, and return attached to correspondence by the deadline 17:00 on 29 May 2026. Receiving Notification Emails To ensure you receive email alerts and notifications from our system, please add the email domain `@in-tendorganiser.co.uk` to your Safe Senders list.

Notice Details

Publication & Lifecycle

Open Contracting ID
ocds-h6vhtk-069b27
Publication Source
Find A Tender Service
Latest Notice
https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/071394-2026
Current Stage
Tender
All Stages
Planning, Tender

Procurement Classification

Notice Type
UK12 - Procurement Termination Notice
Procurement Type
Standard
Procurement Category
Services
Procurement Method
Open
Procurement Method Details
Open procedure
Tender Suitability
SME, VCSE
Awardee Scale
Not specified

Common Procurement Vocabulary (CPV)

CPV Divisions

75 - Administration, defence and social security services

85 - Health and social work services

CPV Codes

75200000 - Provision of services to the community

75310000 - Benefit services

85312310 - Guidance services

Notice Value(s)

Tender Value
£6,200,000 £1M-£10M
Lots Value
£6,200,000 £1M-£10M
Awards Value
Not specified
Contracts Value
Not specified

Notice Dates

Publication Date
28 Jul 20262 months ago
Submission Deadline
20 Jul 2026Expired
Future Notice Date
26 Jun 2026Expired
Award Date
Not specified
Contract Period
1 Oct 2026 - 31 Mar 2027 6-12 months
Recurrence
Not specified

Notice Status

Tender Status
Complete
Lots Status
Complete
Awards Status
Cancelled
Contracts Status
Not Specified

Buyer & Supplier

Contracting Authority (Buyer)

Main Buyer
Hampshire County Council
Contact Name
Available with D3 Tenders Premium →
Contact Email
Available with D3 Tenders Premium →
Contact Phone
Available with D3 Tenders Premium →

Buyer Location

Locality
WINCHESTER
Postcode
SO23 8UJ
Postcode Area
Southampton
Country
England
Major Region (ITL 1)
TLJ South East (England)
Basic Region (ITL 2)
TLJ3 Hampshire and Isle of Wight
Small Region (ITL 3)
TLJ36 Central Hampshire
Delivery Location
TLJ3 Hampshire and Isle of Wight
Local Authority
Winchester
Electoral Ward
St Michael
Westminster Constituency
Winchester

Further Information

Notice Documents

Open Contracting Data Standard (OCDS)

View full OCDS Record for this contracting process

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The Open Contracting Data Standard (OCDS) is a framework designed to increase transparency and access to public procurement data in the public sector. It is widely used by governments and organisations worldwide to report on procurement processes and contracts.

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