Delivering Oxfordshire’s Resident Support Scheme to avoid and relieve financial crises

The Resident Support Scheme is Oxfordshire County Council’s local hardship fund. It provides emergency help with short-term living costs through vouchers for food and energy, white goods and furniture.

Since July 2023, we’ve delivered the service on the council’s behalf using their allocation from the government’s Household Support Fund. We ensure an accessible application process, decide eligibility in line with all relevant guidance, arrange fulfillment of goods or vouchers and manage all customer contact.

Accessible and flexible

Residents can apply online or by calling a local number, with all queries managed by our experienced team by phone or email. We also manage complaints and appeals, keeping detailed notes and a full audit trail so that decisions can be reviewed where required.

We keep the service flexible too, adjusting our processes quickly to match any changes in eligibility criteria or award values. We can also manage fluctuating volumes, as Paul explains:

“In the first six months of working with NEC, we saw a significant increase in applications. Now, it tends to be cyclical, with higher numbers in the post-Christmas period. NEC manages these peaks with ease, which means we don’t need to worry about being overwhelmed by applications when we promote the scheme to our residents.”

Residents can apply online or by calling a local number, with all queries managed by our experienced team by phone or email. We also manage complaints and appeals, keeping detailed notes and a full audit trail so that decisions can be reviewed where required.

We keep the service flexible too, adjusting our processes quickly to match any changes in eligibility criteria or award values. We can also manage fluctuating volumes.

Through ongoing contact and monthly meetings, we work to keep the service aligned to council and resident needs. We share information on call answering times and application processing times along with the outcomes from any appeals or complaints. Right now, we’re also working on how changes to the wording on the application website might help to reduce the number of ineligible applications.