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Home improvements - disability facility grant for a private property

Disabled Facilities Grants

If you or someone living with you has a disability, you may be able to get a grant for adapting your home or providing specialist equipment to help you continue living there. You can find more information about disabled facilities grants by looking on the pages below.

If you need any further information or would like to discuss the grant in more detail, please contact Vale and Dale Home Improvement Agency on 0845 200 8646 (local rate) or e-mail your enquiry to: vale&dale@broadacres.org.uk

Who can apply?
You can apply for a Disabled Facilities Grant regardless of whether you own or rent your property. If you are a council tenant and the adaptations needed are relatively small, you can normally get the work done by the council without having to make a grant application.
If you need your home adapting for a person living with you, a child or elderly relative for example, you can make an application on their behalf.

If you rent your home from a private landlord you can apply for a Disabled Facilities Grant although you will normally have to get permission from your landlord to adapt the property. Alternatively, your landlord may apply on your behalf.

What is the grant for?
A Disabled Facilities Grant is for altering or adapting a property to help a disabled occupant move around, get in and out of the home and be able to use essential facilities such as the bathroom and kitchen.

The types of work that are often required are:

-Widening doorways and constructing ramps to make it easier to get in or out of the home
-Installing a stair lift to allow access to a bedroom and bathroom
-Adapting a bathroom, for example installing a low level shower instead of a bath or providing a bathroom downstairs
-Adapting a heating system to make it easier to use
-Providing specialist equipment to help care for a disabled occupant, a child or elderly relative for example

How will the grant be calculated?
In England, the maximum grant that can be given is £30,000 per application.

The amount of grant that you receive will depend on the cost of the work and whether you can afford to make a contribution towards it.

This is decided by a means test which will look at the income and savings of the disabled person and their spouse or partner. Where the application is for a disabled child or young person under the age of nineteen, there is no means test.

If the disabled person receives certain income related benefits, council tax benefit or guaranteed pension credit for example, they will not normally have to make a contribution.

If you would like to find out more about claiming council tax benefit or housing benefit, please see our section on benefits.

You can find out more about other benefits by visiting www.direct.gov.uk/en/MoneyTaxAndBenefits/index.htm

If you can afford to make a contribution to the cost of the work, the amount of grant will be reduced by the amount of your contribution. If this is greater than the cost of the work, then you will not normally receive any grant.

In some cases, there may be other sources of financial assistance available to help you pay your contribution. Vale and Dale Home Improvement Agency will be able to advise you on the options available, depending on your circumstances.

How to apply
Before you make an application for a Disabled Facilities Grant, we will require a referral from a medical professional. This is usually an occupational therapist from North Yorkshire Adult and Community Services. The referral will confirm the work that is necessary and appropiate to meet the needs of the disabled occupant.

You can make arrangements for an assessment by an occupational therapist at North Yorkshire Adult and Community Services by calling the customer service centre (social care enquiries) on 0845 034 9410 or by e-mail to social.care@northyorks.gov.uk

We work in partnership with Vale and Dale Home Improvement Agency to deliver the grants throughout Richmondshire. The agency can guide you through the application process which includes getting quotations for the work that is required, helping you provide and complete the necessary paperwork and overseeing the work in progress.

For further details on how to make an application, please contact Vale and Dale Home Improvement Agency on:

0845 200 8646 (local rate)

or e-mail your enquiry to vale&dale@broadacres.org.uk.

Grant approval
By law we must give you a decision on your application, in writing, within six months of receiving a complete and valid application.

We do try to approve all applications for disabled facilities grants as soon as possible providing sufficient money is available at the time we receive your application.

We will write to you to confirm that we have received your application and to let you know approximately how long you can expect to wait before we make a decision.

Once the grant has been approved, we will send you an approval notice which will confirm the amount of grant you are entitled to and any contribution you may have to make towards the cost of the work.

The work must normally be completed within one year from the date of approval.

Paying the grant
The grant will be paid once the work is complete and has been inspected and confirmed as satisfactory by the occupational therapist.

As the applicant, you can have the grant paid direct to yourself or to the person that has carried out the work. If you choose to receive the payment, it will be your responsibility to ensure that the contractor and any other party, the Home Improvement Agency for example, are paid.