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If you or someone living in your property is disabled you may qualify for a disabled facilities grant of up to £25,000 towards the cost of providing adaptations and facilities to enable the disabled person to continue to live there. Such grants are given by local councils under Part I of the Housing Grants, Construction and Regeneration Act 1996.
It is a good idea to get advice from a qualified person when considering the need to carry out any works to your property. You should consider how best to meet the costs.
In looking at possible options advice may be sought from the Housing, Social Services or Environmental Health department of your local council, but help may also be available from Housing Advice Centres and Citizens Advice Bureaux. There may also be a local Home Improvement Agency (HIA) which can provide advice and practical help on improvements and adaptations. HIAs are run by local councils, registered social landlords (RSLs) and other organisations and many (such as Care and Repair, Staying Put or Anchor) offer assistance mainly to elderly people.
Your local social services department employs occupational therapists who can assess what adaptations you may need.
You will not normally be awarded a grant for any works completed before you receive approval from your local council.
You can claim if you, or someone living in your property, is disabled and:
A landlord may apply on behalf of a disabled tenant.
A grant can be used for essential adaptations to give you better freedom of movement into and around your home and/or to provide essential facilities within it.
If you are disabled, acceptable types of work include:
An occupational therapist will look at your circumstances and can recommend the type of adaptation(s) needed.
When applying for grant, your council will normally require two written estimates before deciding on the cost of the works eligible for grant. It is sensible to get competitive quotes from reputable builders or installation companies and it may be worth using one who belongs to a trade association which operates a guarantee scheme such as those run by the Building Employers Confederation or the Federation of Master Builders. The council may be able to give you a list of builders or be able to advise you about employing one.
Applications for grant assistance will generally be dealt with by the housing or environmental health department of your local council. You should not assume that you will automatically qualify for a grant, as they are means tested.
When you apply to the council for a disabled facilities grant, they will need to check that the proposed works are:
The council need to be satisfied about each of these matters, and the overall feasibility of the works, if they are to give a disabled facilities grant. A local council can refuse a disabled facilities grant if they believe the scheme is not reasonable and practicable.
The maximum grant that can be paid is £25,000 per application in England and £30,000 in Wales.
To ensure that the grant goes to the most needy households, the amount of grant you will get will be decided by a means test which will look at the income and capital of the disabled person and their spouse or partner. Where the application is for a disabled child or young person under the age of 19 there is no means test.
The test calculates the relevant person's average weekly income, taking account of any savings above a certain limit (certain state benefits are ignored). This is then set against an assessment of basic needs, which are recognised by a range of premiums and allowances, to reflect outgoings.
If the disabled person's resources are less than this assessment, then they will not normally need to contribute to the cost of the works. If the disabled person is on income support, income-based jobseeker's allowance or in receipt of guaranteed state pension credit, they will not normally have to make a contribution.
If the disabled person's resources are more than the assessment, then a contribution will be required from them towards the cost of the works.
If a contribution is required from the relevant person this must be deducted from the amount of grant which would otherwise have been paid. Therefore if the cost of the works is above the maximum £25,000 limit the grant will be that limit less the contribution. If the cost of the works is less than the £25,000, the grant will be the cost of the works less the contribution.
Where the cost of the eligible works are more than the grant limit the council may use it’s discretionary powers under the Regulatory Reform (Housing Assistance) (England and Wales) Order 2002 (see Other relevant assistance, page 15) to bridge part or all of the gap between what they are required to pay and the full cost of the works. Financial assistance may also be available from the Social Services Authority in certain cases
If you would like printed copies of a booklet about disabled facilities grants, please contact the
Office of the Deputy Prime Minister,
ODPM Publications,
PO Box No 236,
Wetherby
LS23 7NB.
Tel: 0870 1226 236
Fax: 0870 1226 237.
Textphone 0870 1207 405.
e-mail: odpm@twoten.press.net
Local councils are responsible for administering Disabled Facilities Grants. For further advice on how to obtain and/or complete an application form, please contact the housing department or environmental health department of your local council.
For general policy enquiries, Tel: 020 7944 3442,
e-mail: disabled.facilitiesgrants@odpm.gov.uk.
Leaflet Product Code: 96 HC 282B
