DAF Payment Wales: Discretionary Assistance Fund Explained

You cannot use an Emergency Assistance Payment to pay ongoing bills you cannot afford. You can only apply for heating oil through an approved partner.

To get an Emergency Assistance Payment, you must:

• ✓Yes: be in extreme financial hardship, for example because you have lost your job or applied for benefits and are waiting for your first payment, with no other means of financial support
• ✓Yes: be in a crisis, such as an unexpected event that has left you without money for food, gas, electricity or other essential items
• ✓Yes: live in Wales
• ✓Yes: be over 16 (there is no upper age limit)
• ✓Yes: have no other money, such as savings

You must live in Wales, be over 16, have no other money and have tried all other affordable sources of funding, such as a credit union. You must also be getting one of these:

• ✓Yes: Universal Credit
• ✓Yes: Income Support
• ✓Yes: income-based Jobseeker's Allowance
• ✓Yes: income-related Employment and Support Allowance
• ✓Yes: the Guarantee Credit element of Pension Credit

And one of these must apply to you:

• ✓Yes: you are leaving a care home or institution (hospital, prison or foster care) after at least 3 months to live independently
• ✓Yes: you want to stay living in the community rather than go into a hospital or care home
• ✓Yes: you are setting up home after an unsettled way of life
• ✓Yes: you need to move home quickly because of a relationship breakdown or domestic violence
• ✓Yes: you are going to care for a prisoner or young offender released on a temporary licence

You cannot get one if you live in a care home or are in prison, unless you are being discharged within 6 weeks, or if you are a member of a fully maintained religious order.

You cannot apply for a grant if you have already received a grant in the last 7 days, or 3 grants within the last 12 rolling months. That is a rolling period, not a calendar or tax year.

You can apply online for an Emergency Assistance Payment yourself. Applications for heating oil, Individual Assistance Payments and applications on someone else's behalf go through an approved partner. You can also apply by post or phone. The DAF helpline is 0800 859 5924, 10am to 4pm, Monday to Friday, and you can call or write in Welsh.

An Emergency Assistance Payment takes 24 hours to process for applications made Monday to Friday. If you apply after 12pm on a Friday, you will not be contacted until the following Monday. An Individual Assistance Payment takes 10 working days to process. For goods, the supplier will phone, text or email to arrange delivery; allow 24 hours after approval before contacting them.

You get a letter by email or post with the outcome. If your application is declined, the letter explains why and what to do if you disagree, and you can ask for the decision to be reviewed.

The DAF is only for people who live in Wales. Our guide to grants and hardship funds covers crisis help elsewhere in the UK, and our benefits guides cover the benefits that can help with essential costs.