Disabled Facilities Grants
Disabled Facilities Grants are available to homeowners, owners of qualifying houseboats, owners of qualifying park homes, tenants of private landlords and tenants of housing associations. Grants are also available for adaptations to the common parts of shared buildings.
The grants can also fund work to improve the homes of disabled children, and these are not means tested.
We work closely with housing associations to make sure they can help tenants remain in their own homes, and that they have policies and funds to complement our work in regard to adaptations or relocation.
The Council (occupational therapist) assesses what help a disabled person might need at home and provides practical solutions. This can include Disabled Facilities Grants.
An Occupational Therapist inspects your home and recommends adaptations to suit your needs.
Provided the work is reasonable and appropriate, and the applicant passes the test of 'financial resources', we will then consider approval of a Disabled Facilities Grant.
What can a grant cover?
Some of the types of changes the Disabled Facilities Grants could fund include:
Work to aid entry and exit from a building, for example ramps
Things to improve access inside the home, for example a stair lift
Provision of accessible kitchen and bathroom facilities
Access to suitable sleeping facilities
How grants are funded:
We are given money each year by the Government to use for these grants, or to help fund a move to a home that may be more suitable.
We ensure the budget for Disabled Facilities Grants work is distributed based on need, and we review it each year.
What level of grants are available?
We have a statutory obligation to fund eligible works up to £30,000 (this includes architects' fees and any other professional charges), subject to means testing. Householders may be required to make a contribution to the work. We will inform you of any contribution required before work starts so you can decide whether to continue.
Where the adaptation is for a child, there is no means testing.
Will I have to repay my grant if I sell the property?
If you own the property and your grant was more than £5,000, we may place a local or a legal charge against the property. This means that if you sell the home within 10 years, we may also recover some of the grant we paid. Further details of this can be found in our DFG Policy or you can contact us for more information.
Additional Information:
As well as the Occupational Therapist's recommendation, we would consider:
Your financial circumstances – we will need to see evidence of this
The cost of the work
The time the work is likely to take.
The suitability of your home for adaptation (including the extent of any under occupation or over occupation)
The practicalities of adapting your home (considering both the site it sits on and its wider location)
The likely need for future adaptations
The availability of and eligibility for suitable alternative accommodation. Applicants would not be forced to move home, but decisions may have to be made by the Council, for example a single person in a four-bedroomed housing association house may be asked to move rather than adapt the property.
Applications will be assessed on a case-by-case basis.
The extent to which the adaptation(s) make appropriate use of the funding available to the council
Eligibility for a Disabled Facilities Grant is set by legislation. The availability of a grant is dependent on all four of the following criteria being met:
The works being necessary and appropriate
The works being reasonable and practicable
The applicant's mean tested contribution being less than the approved value of the grant.
The applicant must be classed as ‘chronically sick and disabled,’ as assessed by an Occupational Therapist.
Clients who are not eligible for a grant will be given advice and assistance.
Members of the public who would like to find out more about the DFG and application process, including disabled people, their family and carers, can find more information about the grant and how to apply via the following links.
Find out who your local housing authority is
Mandatory Disabled Facilities Grant (DFG)
Disabled residents can apply for up to £30,000 to adapt their homes to help them to maintain an independent lifestyle.
This grant is available for homeowners or tenants living in either private or housing association properties. In the event that there is a change in the applicants' circumstances ( e.g. no longer living at the property) once a Mandatory Grant has been approved the Council will review the award of grant offer in line with the legislation and it may result in the withdrawal of the grant offer and any other funding linked to the application.
The grant can cover works such as:
Improving access to rooms and facilities. This might mean, for example, stairlifts, level access showers and door widening
Adapting heating or lighting controls to make them easier to use
Providing a heating system that suits your needs
Improving the entrances to your home and access to your garden.
A top-up grant may also be available should essential work exceed the £30,000 limit.
Assistance: Mandatory Disabled Facilities Grant
Target group: People with disabilities
Maximum grant: £30,000
Type of grant: Mandatory Grant
Eligibility criteria: Adaptions are recommended after an assessment by an occupational therapist
Means tested? Yes, excluding children
Discretionary Disabled Facilities Top-Up Grant:
The Council may provide a Discretionary Disabled Facilities Top Up Grant for cases where the cost of eligible works exceeds the Mandatory Disabled Facilities Grants maximum. The Top Up Grant up to £20,000.00 will be available for owner occupiers, tenants and licensees.
Where a change of circumstances occurs (e.g. the applicant is no longer living at the property as their main residence) the Council will review the award of the Discretionary Grant and this may be withdrawn.
Assistance: Discretionary Disabled Facilities Top Up Grant
Target group: People with disabilities
Maximum grant: £20,000
Type of grant: Discretionary grant
Eligibility criteria: Where the cost of the works exceeds the £30,000 maximum Mandatory Disabled Facilities Grant.
Means tested? N/A
Discretionary Disability Relocation Grant
Up to £5,000 is available to disabled residents where the existing home is deemed as not reasonable or practical to adapt.
The funding will cover some of the costs needed to relocate to more suitable housing. The grant will contribute towards reasonable costs associated with moving home, including removal costs, estate agents' fees, legal costs or the disconnection and reconnection of household appliances, and potential relocation of adaptations that may need to be relocated elsewhere.
Assistance: Discretionary Disabled Relocation Grant
Target group: People with disabilities
Maximum grant: £5,000
Type of grant: Discretionary grant
Eligibility criteria: Existing home cannot be adapted; a more suitable property has been found
Means tested? No
Discretionary Disability Grant Assistance:
Discretionary Disability Grant Assistance is to cover disabled adaptations that fall outside of the mandatory DFG criteria and include adaptations for dual residency children and certain adults, Care Act eligible works, non-means testing for all stair lift referrals, works to enable hospital discharge and adaptations for financial hardship cases.
The discretionary grant may also be used to assist in covering mean tested contributions in some cases up to a maximum of £5,000.00, where a person may have a high contribution to make for a mandatory DFG, but may not have any savings to cover their contribution and this may be applied in particular where there are multi needs adaptations
In the event that there is a change in the applicants’ circumstances (e.g. no longer living at the property) and a grant has been approved the Council will review the award of grant offer and it may result in the withdrawal of the grant offer and any other funding linked to the application.
Assistance: Discretionary Disability Grant Assistance
Target group: People with disabilities
Maximum grant: £30,000
Type of grant: Discretionary Grant Assistance
Eligibility criteria: Dual residency of a child or adult (not means tested); meets adult social care means test (means tested); Care Act eligible works after hospital discharge (means tested); stair lift referral (not means tested)
To apply for a Disabled Facilities Grant, you can contact the Housing Grants Team for advice, however all referrals made directly to the service must be made through an assessment made by an Adult Social Care Occupational Therapist.
If you require a copy of the Housing Grants & Assistance Policy, and/or require it in a different format, please use the e-mail address to contact us below.
Contact Us:
E-Mail: housing.grants@cumberland.gov.uk
Telephone: 0300 373 3730
