A Disabled Facilities Grant is an assessed need and means tested grant. It is designed to help towards the cost of adapting your home for assessed need in the simplest and most cost effective way.
A grant is paid when the council considers that changes are necessary to meet your needs, and that the work is reasonable and practical.
Who can apply for a Disabled Facilities Grant?
You can apply if you, or someone living in your property, is disabled and has an identified clinical need and:
- you, or the person on whose behalf you are applying, are either the owner or tenant (including licensees) of the property
- you can certify that you, or the person on whose behalf you are applying, intend to occupy the property as your/their only or main residence throughout the grant period - currently five years
A landlord may apply on behalf of a disabled tenant.
What the grant can be given for you can use it for?
A grant can be given for adaptations to let you live safely and independently in your home and/or to provide essential facilities, such as a level access shower, within it.
If you are disabled, types of work might include:
- widening doors and installing ramps
- providing or improving access into rooms and to bathing facilities - for example, by installing a stair lift or providing a downstairs bathroom
- improving or providing a heating system which is suitable for your assessed needs
- adapting heating or lighting controls to make them easier to use
- improving access into and around your home to enable you to care for another person who lives in the property, such as a child
An Occupational Therapist will look at the difficulties you have and can recommend the type of adaptation(s) required to help you.
How much grant can you can get?
This means test calculation is set by the Government and used across the country. It calculates how much you could potentially borrow based upon you income rather than your accessible funds.
The amount of grant given is based on both your assessed need and a financial assessment (a 'means test') of your average weekly income.
Families with of disabled children under 19 are not means tested.
Means testing will disregard savings up to £6,000. Certain benefits including Disability Living Allowance and Income Support are also ignored.
If you have a partner, your combined income will be assessed jointly. Capital is included in the means test.
A range of premiums and allowances are is used for all essential outgoings, for example, rent/mortgage and personal expenditure. Actual outgoings are not taken into consideration.
Depending on the outcome of this assessment the amount of financial assistance offered can vary from 0 to 100 per cent of the cost.
How the grant is worked out?
The grant works as follows:
- if your calculated income is less than your assessed needs you will not normally need to contribute to the cost of the works
- if your income is more than your assessed needs, a proportion of your income will be used to calculate how much you could contribute towards the cost of the works
- if this assessed amount is less than the cost of the works, the difference between the two is paid as a Disabled Facilities Grant
Effect on other benefits
A Disabled Facilities Grant will not affect any benefits you are currently receiving.