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For councils, CRF partners & housing associations

Help residents build money resilience before the crisis payment.

BudgetUp gives residents and tenants bite-size money games on budgeting, bills, benefits, debt help and renting, with your own advice and hardship contacts signposted throughout. It's designed to sit alongside your advice services, not replace them.

Book a pilot chatPlay the games first
In a bright community hub, a council support officer in a blue hijab helps an older man in a flat cap use a tablet, while a young mum with a toddler laughs at her phone and Nana winks over her teaPartner conversations open

Crisis support works best when people reach it early

Councils and landlords see the same pattern: people come forward late, when arrears or debt have already snowballed. Workshops reach the people who already turn up.

See GOV.UK: The Crisis and Resilience Fund guidance for local authorities in England, and the RSH consumer standards. Check current guidance for your area.

Built for residents, not just students

Families, older residents and tenants use it at home, in hubs and alongside your support staff. Short games in plain English, on any phone.

A young family sorts the post into three tidy piles at their kitchen table, a phone showing a simple bar chart, while their daughter adds a sticker and Chip the hamster proudly holds up an envelope
Getting on top of the bills, together
An older woman in a floral armchair taps a tablet with delight as Nana, perched beside her, points at the screen and laughs; Chip the hamster peeks over the top
No jargon, any age
Three generations of a family squeeze onto a sofa, laughing and cheering at a money game on one phone, as Mo throws up his hands at losing a round, Nana sips tea and Chip the hamster bounces on a cushion
Something the whole household can play

Illustrative value calculator

What does one household kept out of crisis save?

Temporary accommodation is one of the biggest costs councils carry. Put in your own numbers and your own cost per household.

100 households at risk. If 5 stay out of temporary accommodation for a year:

£85,000

in costs avoided.

Book a pilot to see pricing

Illustrative only, not a forecast: it uses your inputs, and we don't claim BudgetUp causes these outcomes. A pilot measures what actually changes. Default cost (about £17,000) is £2.3bn net council spend on homelessness in 2025-26 divided by 135,580 households in temporary accommodation; it is not an official unit cost, so use your own. Sources: MHCLG, Local authority revenue expenditure and financing England: 2025 to 2026 first release (homelessness £2.3 billion net); MHCLG, Statutory homelessness in England: January to March 2026 (135,580 households in temporary accommodation).

How it would work for you

  1. Residents get a code

    Hand out codes through advice services, tenancy sign-up, libraries or hubs. A support worker can sit alongside someone to get them started.

  2. They learn at their own pace

    Five-minute games on any phone. Heavier topics like debt switch to a warmer tone, and free help is always signposted.

  3. You report outcomes

    Residents reached, completions, and change in confidence and help-seeking, reported in aggregate only.

What you get

We label everything honestly. "Available now" means it's built, tested and ready for a pilot today. "Rolling out" means it's in build for 2026/27; "on the roadmap" means later. Neither is promised as a day-one feature.

Book a pilot to see pricing

Evidence, not page views

Outcomes you can put in a monitoring return

We measure what CRF resilience services and tenancy sustainment teams care about: confidence, help-seeking and whether people reached the right support. Any linkage to crisis payment or arrears data happens on your side; we never need your case records.

CRF and Tenancy Standard report packs

Available now
  • Residents or tenants reached and completing
  • Change in financial wellbeing and confidence
  • Help-seeking intent: knowing where to get free, trustworthy help
  • Optional council-side join to repeat crisis applications
  • Aggregates only, with cells under 10 suppressed

Pilot offer

Partner with us on a CRF or tenancy pilot

The resident journey and the CRF and Tenancy Standard report packs are ready to pilot. If you're planning the resident-education element of a CRF programme, or a tenancy pilot, let's talk.

You get

  • A live demo of the resident journey
  • Help writing the resident-education element of a bid
  • A licence, or outcomes-based pricing per resident who completes a pathway
  • Input into assisted onboarding before it ships

We ask

  • A named lead in your advice, welfare or tenancy team
  • Your hardship and advice contacts for signposting
  • A shared view of what 'resilience' means in your area
  • A DPIA together before any resident data flows

Talk to us about a pilot

Tell us a little about you. We'll come back with a 20-minute demo slot and a pilot outline. No sales sequence, promise.

Questions buyers ask

Does this replace our advice service?

No. BudgetUp is education, not advice. It builds confidence and knowledge and sends people to regulated, impartial or local help, including yours, sooner.

Can it be part of a CRF bid?

Yes, as a resident-education or capacity-building element alongside an advice partner. Check the current CRF guidance and your local delivery plan for what's eligible.

What data do you need about residents?

As little as possible. Residents use a code and can stay pseudonymous. You'd be the controller and we'd be your processor under a DPA. We never need case records.

Is it ready now?

Yes for the library, games, access codes, signposting, the staff course and the CRF and Tenancy Standard report packs. Your own contacts in the signposts are rolling out and assisted onboarding is on the roadmap, and we label them that way on this page.

Doing due diligence? Our trust centre has hosting, sub-processors, accessibility and security details.

Want to see what your people would learn? Every topic is open to read in our free money library, no account needed.