Disabled facilities grant

A Disabled Facilities Grant (DFG) can help you pay for adaptations in your home.

If you are finding it difficult to:

• get in and out of the bath – We may be able to help you replace your bath with a level access shower.
• go up and down the stairs – We may be able to install a stair lift or through-floor-lift.
• get in and out of your property – We may be able to help you with low threshold doors, steps, ramping and handrails, or external step lift.
• cook or prepare meals – We may be able to help you by adapting or replacing your kitchen to make it more accessible.

Please note: if you are a tenant, you would need to get your landlord’s permission to adapt the property.

Call the helpdesk on 023 9268 0810 to request an Occupational Therapy assessment of your needs.

You can also hire your own private occupational therapist to make recommendations for adaptations. We can consider this too, and the cost of their report could be paid for through the grant if you qualify.

After you contact us, an Occupational Therapist (OT) will assess your needs and decide what adaptations you might need. The property will then be assessed by a Housing Renewals Officer to make sure the adaptations can be carried out.

• An Occupational Therapist (OT) will assess your needs.
• The OT will refer you to Private Sector Housing for a Disabled Facilities Grant (DFG).
• We’ll help you make an application for a DFG. We’ll collect your financial information from you for the means test and agree the adaptation that will be done.
• We’ll confirm that you’re eligible for the grant and confirm how much you need to pay (if any).
• We’ll get builder’s quote for the work.
• The grant will be approved.
• You can then arrange a suitable date to start the works with the builder
• Once the works are complete, an Officer will check the works and pay the grant to the builder (with your agreement).

Level access showers and stair lifts

Currently, if an Occupational Therapist (OT) recommends you need a level access shower (in your existing bathroom or shower room) and/or a stair lift, the full cost can be covered by the grant. This means you would not need to pay towards the cost of the shower or stair lift regardless of your financial circumstances. Please note: This is a discretionary scheme and is subject to available funding. Grant funding is not guaranteed until you receive written confirmation that your grant application has been approved.

For all other adaptations, you will be financially assessed (means tested) to determine if and how much you may need to pay towards the works.

Support with carrying out the adaptations

We offer a Home Improvement Agency Service, where officers will help you through the whole process from start to finish. This includes support with making your grant application, creating a specification for the works required, finding suitable builders to do the work, and making sure that the work carried out by the builders follow the specifications. This service comes with a cost, but the grant can also cover this fee.

We have other options to support you with an adaption if you don’t qualify for a Disabled Facilities Grant:

• Interest Free Loan – If you have been financially assessed and have to pay a contribution towards your grant, we may be able to offer you an interest free loan of up to £15,000 (interest free for 10 years).
• Grant to repair or replace equipment – If you have a stair lift that has broken down or your level access shower has stopped working, we may be able to offer you a grant of up to £5,000 towards a repair or replacement. This grant is subject to means testing.
• Palliative Care Assistance – This is a grant to fund the installation of a stair lift for short term use.

We have other financial assistance available if you need help with repairs to your property

• Is your roof leaking? We may be able to help you with roof repairs or replacement
• Are your windows draughty, single glazed or hard to open and close? We may be able to help with replacement windows
• Are you experiencing damp in your property? We may be able to help you with Damp Treatment

We have a range of grants and loans available to financially assist you in carrying out repairs to your property, with more comfort, safety and security.  These are available to homeowners and landlords of empty properties.

For more information on the grants and loans we have available, visit our ‘Grants and loans for home repair’ page.

Means Test for Disabled Facilities Grants