Lewes District Council

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Environmental Health
Lewes District Council
Southover House
Southover Road
Lewes
East Sussex
BN7 1AB

Tel: 01273 484354
ehealth@lewes.gov.uk
Minicom 01273 484488

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Disabled Facilities Grants

We provide Disabled Facilities Grants to help fund adaptations to homes, enabling disabled people to live as independently as possible.

If you, or a person living with you, is disabled you may qualify for a mandatory Disabled Facilities Grant (DFG) to adapt your property to enable the disabled person to live as independently as possible.

Who can apply for a DFG?

Owner-occupiers, landlords and a wide-range of tenants (including Council tenants) and licensees can apply for a DFG.  You can apply if you are the disabled person, the landlord of a disabled person, or someone living with a disabled person.

Who will qualify?

The DFG must be for a person who is registered or could be registered as a disabled person.  The disability can be caused by physical illness or injury, a major sight, hearing, speech or mental-health problem, or a learning disability.

We work closely with East Sussex Social Services and the disabled person will usually need to undergo an assessment by one of their Occupational Therapists who will advise us of what work is considered necessary and appropriate for their needs.

If you have not already had an assessment, you should contact Social Care Direct on 0345 60 80 191.  Should the Occupational Therapist decide that adaptations are required, they will then forward recommendations to us.

What work can be carried out?

Does the Council have to give a grant?

If recommendations are made by the Occupational Therapist, we will decide whether the work is reasonable and practical.  We can refuse a grant if we consider the scheme to be unreasonable or impractical.

Are there conditions attached to the DFG?

If the grant exceeds £5,000 and you are an owner-occupier, the amount of grant over £5,000 is registered as a Local Land Charge against the property.  The Charge will last a maximum of 10 years and is limited to a maximum repayment of £10,000.  This must be repaid if the property is sold within 10 years.

If the work involves the installation of specialist equipment, a condition will be attached to the grant so that we can get this specialist equipment back if it is no longer needed.  This includes equipment such as stair lifts and step lifts.

How will the grant be calculated?

To make sure that the grant goes to the people who need it most, the amount of grant is decided by carrying out a Means Test.  This looks at the income, capital and savings of the disabled person and their spouse or partner.  You may have to make a contribution towards the cost of any work.

If the grant is for a child under the age of 19 and you receive child benefit for that child, there is no Means Test assessment for the mandatory DFG.

If you are in receipt of one of the following income-related benefits you would normally be eligible for a 100% grant:

How much grant will I receive?

The maximum mandatory limit for the grant is £30,000.

If the cost of the work is less than £30,000 and you have been assessed as having a contribution, the amount of grant will be the cost of the work, less your assessed contribution.

If the work costs more than £30,000, the amount of grant will be £30,000, less your contribution.

Please Note:  We can only proceed with an application for a DFG if a recommendation has been made by an Occupational Therapist. 

How long will the whole process take?

The council legally has to approve a complete DFG application within six months of receipt (a ‘complete’ application comprises all necessary forms, two independent estimates, financial information and proof of title details).

However, once we have received a complete DFG application, the current average time taken to approve it is three weeks.
 
Our targets for the time taken from initial contact to completion of the adaptation are:

We aim that 80% of all works are completed within these timescales

Who can help you apply for a DFG?

Applicants may feel they need the support of an agent, architect, architectural technician or surveyor to help with the following:

Reasonable fees can normally be reclaimed as part of the grant, however, as fees usually have to be paid ‘up front’ the applicant will be responsible for them until the grant is approved. Advice or concerns about fees should be discussed with the Council Officer assisting with the DFG.

Applicants should ensure their agents, architects and contractors are members of an approved professional body, for example:

or approved by recognised trade lists e.g. Buy With Confidence, Contractor Call, Check a Trade, Trust a Trader, Trust Mark.

Applicants are advised to have a clear agreement on what they have commissioned to be done and should consult with the Council Officer assisting with the DFG prior to appointing an Architect/Surveyor and agreeing fees in order to check what level of fees might be grant-aided.

Please note; No work should start on an adaptation until the funding has been fully approved, as grants are not  normally awarded when work has started.

If you, or somebody you know, would like further information or help finding suitable assistance, please contact our Environmental Health Housing Team.