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Disabled Facilities Grant
Housing options for people with a
disability
If you have a disability, adapting your home can be a complex
and difficult procedure. However, the Occupational
Therapy Service can provide advice that may be able to assist
with the cost of funding the work via a Disabled Facilities Grant,
a means tested grant which your local council can give to adapt
your home to meet the needs of a disabled person.
From December 2005, Disabled Facilities Grants for children
(under the age of 18 years) with disabilities are not means
tested.
Eligibility
A registered or registrable disabled person is entitled to apply
as an owner or tenant. An application can also be made by someone
who has a disabled person living with him or her.
Getting started
- Contact the Occupational Therapy Service by phone or letter
using the contact details below.
- An occupational therapist will visit you at home to assess your
immediate and foreseeable needs. All proposals will be discussed
and designed to ensure you can remain living in your home as
independently as possible.
- If the works are likely to be eligible for a Disabled
Facilities Grant the occupational therapist will refer you to the
Adaptation Service.
Your agent's role
You will need to decide whether you wish to deal with the
application yourself or whether you wish to appoint someone to act
on your behalf, such as an agent, architect or a home improvement
agency such as in
touch.
In any case, they will be referred to as the agent and will be
the main point of contact for everyone involved and will sort out
everything involved with the application from start to finish. Any
fees charged by them may be included within the grant.
Means testing
At an early stage the council will send you an Early Financial
Assessment form to complete. This requires you and your spouse or
partner to give details of your income, savings and certain
disability benefits. From this information the council will
calculate how much, if anything, you will have to contribute
towards the proposed works and notify you of the result.
Home visit
It is likely a joint visit will take place between the
occupational therapist and the grant adaptations officer from the
council to see you at your home. The adaptations officer will make
sure the works proposed are reasonable and practicable. The
occupational therapist will send recommendations for the work to
the Adaptation Service. The adaptations officer will then send you
or your agent the application pack with instructions on how to make
your application.
Filling in the application
There will be a number of forms to fill in and you will need to
get three competitive estimates from your chosen builders. The
council may be able to advise you on builders who do this type of
work. Depending on the scale of works involved it may be necessary
for plans to be drawn up and Planning Permission, Building
Regulation and possibly Part Wall Act approvals obtained.
If your application is approved
Once the council approves your application they will send you or
your agent a formal notice of approval in writing stating the
amount of grant you will receive. You must not start any of the
work until you have received this. Once you have this, you can go
ahead with the work.
The work must be completed within one year of approval. The
adaptations officer will inspect the work to ensure it is up to
standard and has been done in accordance with the occupational
therapist recommendations. Provided you too are satisfied with the
work, payment will be made direct to your builder and/or agent.
Top up grants
Sometimes social services can provide a top-up grant/loan to
cover your contribution (if any) under the Disabled Facilities
Grant or to cover costs of adaptations not covered by the grant.
The occupational therapist may be able to advise you on this.
Moving to more suitable accommodation
Should the cost of the adaptations be too great, an alternative
package of care may be appropriate. You may wish to consider moving
to more suitable accommodation. Occasionally, some financial help
may be available from social services to help with the move.
Local Housing Associations or the Accessible Property Register
(www.accessible-property.org.uk/)
may be able to play a role in finding a suitable house or flat.
Go to the Adaptations
- Disabled Facilities Grants leaflet on our housing
leaflets page.
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