Disabled facilities grant

Disabled facilities grant (mandatory)

Applicants for Disabled Facilities Grants (DFG) should be referred by the council’s Social Services Occupational Therapy Service or Ealing’s NHS Partners. Please contact 020 8825 8000.

Major adaptations are arranged by our Repairs and Adaptations Service (RAS) incorporating Ealing Home Improvement Agency and funded by the Better Care Fund and Capital Programme.

The following types of work, when recommended for a disabled person by the occupational therapist, are eligible for grant provided they are necessary, appropriate, reasonable and practical, having regard to the age and condition of the property:

  • Making the building or dwelling safe
  • Facilitating access to and from the building
  • Facilitating access to or providing a bedroom
  • Facilitating access to the principal family room
  • Provision of a room containing a bath or shower or facilitating the use of such a facility
  • Provision of a room containing a WC or facilitating the use of such a facility
  • Provision of a room containing a wash hand basin or facilitating the use of such a facility
  • Facilitating the preparation and cooking of food (only if used by the disabled person)
  • Providing or improving a heating system
  • Facilitating the use of power, light or heat by altering the same or by providing additional means of control
  • Facilitating access and movement around the dwelling to enable the disabled person to provide care for another person

You can apply for a DFG on behalf of the disabled person if you are an owner or the tenant, if you’re a family member, landlord or Home Improvement Agency supporting a disabled person (Different arrangements apply if the adaptations are to be carried out to a property owned by Ealing Council).

The applicant (who may not necessarily be the disabled person) must either own the property or have a long-term tenancy. Proof of ownership will be sought. The applicant must intend to occupy the property for a period of 5 years (min) 

The tenant must have a tenancy agreement with a minimum of five years remaining and intend to live in the property during the grant period which is currently five years.

A statutory limit applies to DFGs which may be subject to a means test (depending on grant works) to determine if the disabled person has to contribute towards the cost of the works. (The exception to this rule is when the adaptations are for a child, subject to being approved by a management panel). Proposed DFGs over £12,000 will be means-tested, under the Regulatory Reform (Housing Assistance) (England and Wales) Order 2002, except for essential specialist equipment such as stairlifts, hoist, through floor lifts, etc.The means test will be on the disabled person (the applicant), his or her spouse and any dependent children.

The maximum grant that can be awarded in England is £30,000. If the total cost of providing the necessary adaptations exceeds the available grant of £30,000 you will need to consider how to raise the additional money needed (e.g. by means of a loan, mortgage etc). No top ups will be granted due to restrictions on discretionary funding. For all cases that are expected to exceed £30,000 the management panel will meet to decide how next to proceed. All monies above £30,000 (including that for a child application) will need to be self-funded.

If you are an owner-occupier, and you receive a DFG for more than £5,000, the council will place a land charge on the property for 10 years. Therefore, if you sell the property within 10 years of the adaptation’s completion date, then RAS-HIA can request for the sum of monies to be repaid if the grant was over £5,000. Subject to the grant not being more than £30k the maximum we can ask you to repay is £10,000.

Extensions, garage conversions, and outbuildings will only be considered if no feasible adaptation can be deemed reasonable and practicable, necessary, and appropriate within the footprint of the property, by the adaptations team. In the first instance all proposals will be considered to adapt and/or convert the existing accommodation in the original footprint of the property to meet the needs of the client. The exceptional situation/circumstance must be agreed by the RAS-HIA management panel and supported by a Senior OT recommendation (subject to means test and grant limit) that is deemed eligible for a grant provided they are necessary, appropriate, reasonable, and practical and take into consideration the £30,000 grant limit.