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Adapting your home (disabled facilities grants)

We can provide the disabled facilities grant for adaptations to your home, so you can continue to live there safely.

Adaptations can only be made following an occupational therapy assessment. This applies to homeowners, housing association tenants, people living in private rented accommodation and council tenants.

Further to an occupational therapy assessment, adaptations to your property may be recommended, to enable you to be safer in your home and have improved access to your facilities. These might include:

  • External handrails, grab rails or alterations to steps, to assist with access.
  • Grab rails or drop down rails near the toilet, to help with transfers.
  • Provision of a second stair rail to help you use the stairs more safely.
  • A level or low-access shower, if you are unable to safely use a bath, even with equipment.
  • A ramp to facilitate wheelchair access to your property.
  • A stair-lift, to enable access to essential facilities.

If you rent your home from a housing association or private landlord, they must give permission for these adaptations. Some adaptations are classed as minor and are provided for free. Others are classed as major adaptations, which may be funded through a Disabled Facilities Grant.

We can also provide equipment to help you in your everyday life, such as electronic medication dispensers, and easy-to-use mobile phones.

How do we decide who gets support?

As we only have a limited amount of money available for grants, we have to prioritise how we spend the money. Grants are means-tested, which means they go to the people who need them most.

Adaptations fitted in council owned properties are currently funded through us.

We will look at the income and savings of the disabled person and their spouse or partner, and compare that to a standard assessment of the household’s basic needs.

The maximum grant that can be paid is £30,000. We also use a priority points system to work out how urgently you need the adaptations.

What happens after the assessment?

We will recommend what adaptations or equipment you need. We also look at factors such as the type of property you live in, the location of facilities in your home, how easy it is for you to get to those facilities, access to the property, and family composition.

In addition, we will look at how you will manage while you are waiting for the adaptations or equipment.

If your home cannot be adapted we may be able to help you move to a property that has already been adapted. For this, as assessment by the occupational therapy service would need to take place.

You can organise your own help if you choose to do so. Contact us for more information.

Contact us

For all queries on adaptations, ring us on: 0116 454 5130
Send us a message

For stairlift breakdowns and repairs (for owners and tenants), ring us on: 0116 454 5130