Government cuts have been blamed for why Bexley Council is one of 20 authorities in England to have scrapped a scheme to support residents in crisis.

New research from a leading charity shows a host of councils are no longer providing local welfare assistance for vulnerable residents in emergency situations.

The money was provided by the government for councils to spend on households hit by disasters such as flooding, or who needed help with clothing and furniture or resettlement.

The government stopped the funding in 2015, with new data from Church Action on Poverty showing the amount of money on local welfare assistance has since dropped by millions.

Bexley has been found to be one of 20 councils to have ended its scheme completely, with Greenwich Council almost following suit just weeks ago before a last-minute U-turn.

With funding being cut, Bexley councillors decided it wouldn’t be viable to keep the scheme going.

Civic centre chiefs took the decision to scrap the scheme in 2015 following a committee’s findings on “the tightest squeeze on budgets in history”.

A spokesman for the council said it has ongoing measures in place for residents in hardship.

Speaking of the new findings, the council spokesman said: “To respond to the reduction in Government funding a cross-party group of councillors considered the figure of the scheme.

“It thoroughly assessed how the scheme worked, users of the scheme and where there was duplication with other schemes offering support, inefficiencies and better ways to deliver support to those in need.

“Following this work the Local Welfare Provision scheme in Bexley ended on 1 April 2015 after the withdrawal of dedicated government funding.

“We have a well-established discretionary housing payments programme in place and we signpost residents to a number of organisations that provide financial support and advice including the Government Budgeting Loan scheme, the Greenwich and Bexley Credit Union and the Citizens Advice Bureau.

“We have ongoing measures in place with our partners to support residents experiencing financial hardship and difficulties and would encourage anyone encountering problems to get in touch.”

Church Action on Poverty pressed more than 160 councils last year over their welfare set-up, finding over 20 English councils that had closed their funds.