Disabled Facilities Grants
What are Disabled Facilities Grants?
If you or someone living with you in your property is disabled
then you may qualify for a Disabled Facilities Grant (DFG), towards
the cost of providing adaptations and facilities to enable a
disabled person to remain living independently in their home.
Who can apply for a Disabled Facilities Grant?
Any person who has a disability and requires adaptations to
their property in order to remain living independently can apply
for the grant.
An applicant must either be the owner of a dwelling, or be a tenant
and be able to provide to the local authority the necessary
‘owners’ or ‘tenants’ certificate. Written confirmation from
the owner that they are happy with the work being undertaken within
their property is also required
How is the Grant calculated?
Although Disabled Facilities Grants are mandatory and must be
provided by the Council, you may not automatically qualify for the
grant, as we have to assess both yours and your partner's incomes
and savings through a means test.
The means test looks at the income and capital of the disabled
person and their spouse or partner. It assesses how much they
would initially contribute to the cost of the works.
The test calculates the average weekly incomes, taking into account
any savings above £6,000.00 and certain state benefits. Any
benefits, which specifically recognise a person’s disability, are
ignored. These values are set against an assessment of basic
needs, which are recognised by specific premiums and allowances and
set down by the Secretary of State.
If the disabled person’s resources are less than this assessment,
then initially they will not need to contribute to the cost of the
works. If the disabled person is in receipt of income support
or income based job seekers allowance, then their initial
contribution towards the cost of any of the works will be
nil.
If the disabled persons resources are more than the assessment,
then a proportion of their income will be used to calculate the
size of the amount of funding that they could afford to finance the
works.
In the majority of applications there will be an additional amount
of contribution in cases where the cost of work quoted by the
builder exceeds the cost calculated by our department or, where the
cost of work exceeds the £30,000.00 maximum grant limit.
The approved cost of the works is the amount that the Council
calculate as being reasonable to be incurred, having regard to the
work being carried out. If the calculated contribution were
to exceed or equal the approved cost of the works, no grant would
be offered.
Please note it is a condition of the Disabled Facilities Grant that
upon any future sale of the property, the cost of the works above
£5,000 will be repayable up to a maximum of £10,000.
How do I apply for a Disabled Facilities Grant?
In the first instance contact should be made with the Community
Occupational Therapists at Kidderminster Health Centre who will
need to undertake an assessment of your needs. They can be
contacted on 01562 820091.
Once you have been assessed they then issue a referral to Social
Services who can process the request and pass it to our department
so that we can then make an inspection of the property and send out
the necessary application forms.
Decent Homes Assistance
What is Decent Homes Assistance?
They are specifically designed to provide practical help through
works for repairs, improvements, adaptations or security measures
to a property, house boat or mobile home to improve health and
safety. This may include rewiring, damp-proofing works and
rectification of defects which are likely to cause injury or ill
health to occupants or others.
Who can apply for Decent Homes Assistance?
For owner occupiers the financial assistance is for vulnerable
persons i.e. those on certain benefits as follows:
- Income support
- Housing benefit
- Council tax benefit
- Income-based Jobseeker’s allowance
- Industrial injuries, disablement benefit
- Pension credit
- Guaranteed pension credit
- War disablement pension
- Working tax credit which includes a disability element or child
tax credit: Will be defined as vulnerable if you have a household
income of less than £15,000 (irrelevant if you receive other
benefits listed above)
The assistance for tenanted properties is not to provide for basic
standards due to be provided by the landlord anyway but to improve
in the provision of insulation and fire precautions for
example.
The financial assistance is open to home owners or tenanted
properties. It is not open to tenants of Registered Social
Landlords, for example the Community Housing Group.
Normally a charge for the cost of the works will be put on the
property so that the money will be repaid to the Council when the
house is sold at some future date.
What does Decent Homes Assistance cover?
The works assisted will be those that help the property to become
'decent' i.e. free from significant hazards, reasonable thermal
comfort and modern facilities e.g. kitchen and bathroom.
Minor works under £250 will be carried out without a charge
being placed on the property. This handyman type service
complements services provided by Age Concern for example and could
cover for problems such as a few slipped tiles or providing some
simple electrical repairs.
How do I apply?
In the first instance contact should be made with the North
Worcestershire Care and Repair Agency telephone 01562 733217
Read
the Private Sector Housing Assistance Policy 
(262K)
Further Information
Where can I find out more about Housing
Grants?
For further information on Housing Grants please email our Customer Services
Team or call them on 01562 732928, or alternatively write to us
at:
Wyre Forest District Council
Planning and Regulatory Services Directorate
Private Sector Housing
Duke House
Clensmore Street
Kidderminster
Worcestershire
DY10 2JX
