A new funding scheme to provide support for Sheffield residents will allocate £10m per year in funding will prioritise “cash first” crisis payments.

The government-backed Crisis and Resilience Fund (CRF) will provide funding for the next three years to improve current support system and simplify access to benefit payments

Tom Hunt, Leader of Sheffield City Council, said: “It will help us provide support that is not only practical but compassionate, so people can move out of crisis and towards stability.”

Families will also be provided with greater income maximisation support to access everything they are eligible for.

Libraries, Welcome Places and Family Hubs will be involved in a ‘no-wrong-door model’ where residents can get trusted support with trauma informed staff.

An average of £2,628.50 is currently provided because of this support as families access benefits they did not receive before.

A report by Sheffield Poverty Truth found that the stigma of the ‘brown envelope system’, that takes benefits away with little warning, is particularly damaging for those in poverty.

Sarah Clayton, Sheffield Poverty Truth Community Commissioner said: “I know what it feels like when systems that are meant to help people instead cause harm – when you’re treated like a case number instead of a person.”

Opposition from the Greens welcomed an end to the brown-envelope system and income maximisation support, but said it does not go far enough.

In a council meeting, Leader of the Sheffield Green Group, councillor Angela Argenzio, said the fund “does not address the root causes of poverty.”

Around one in four residents in Sheffield are currently experiencing poverty, and the ONS says that 31.2% of children are experiencing poverty, much higher than the national average of 18.9%.

Only two percent of councils believe that the government’s CRF is sufficient to deal with the rapidly growing needs of struggling households.