Consultation - Disabled Facilities Grant & Housing Assistance Policy 2024

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*THIS CONSULTATION HAS NOW CLOSED*



Proposed extra support for disabled people to have home adaptions


We would like to hear your views on our draft Disabled Facilities Grant and Housing Assistance Policy for the Royal Borough of Windsor & Maidenhead. We are particularly keen to hear what you think of our plans to introduce additional financial assistance to help disabled people have home adaptations and essential home repairs.

Your feedback is important for us to understand how best to provide financial assistance that meets people’s needs and to continue to help disabled people stay safe and independent in their own homes. We welcome feedback from all residents, carers, landlords, partners organisations/practitioners, voluntary and community organisations and others.

What are we consulting on?

Local authorities must legally provide Disabled Facilities Grants (DFGs) to all those who are eligible, in order to fund home adaptations to enable independent living. Examples of works include ramps, stair lifts, level access showers and door widening.

In addition to DFGs, local authorities can choose to introduce a Housing Assistance Policy offering a wider range of discretionary financial assistance, such as top-up funding when cost of eligible works exceed the maximum funding allowed through a Disability Facilities Grant alone, which is nowadays more common due to inflation.

Therefore, we are currently consulting on a draft Disabled Facilities Grant and Housing Assistance Policy, which sets out the eligibility criteria, conditions and application processes for various forms of extra assistance.

In addition to a means-tested top-up on Disabled Facilities Grants, the draft policy also includes funding towards costs of moving to a different property where an adaptation is not feasible or economically viable; dedicated support for residents in palliative care towards funding lifts, ramps and new w/c facilities; and a grant to help replace obsolete or defective equipment for a disabled person.

How to share your feedback

We would like to hear your views on the draft policy, particularly the scope and eligibility of our proposed additional discretionary financial assistance. Please see the links on the right to see the draft policy, the scope and eligibility criteria for the new extra assistance schemes, and complete the consultation form to share your feedback.

The consultation closes at 23.59 on Friday 2 February 2024.


*THIS CONSULTATION HAS NOW CLOSED*



Proposed extra support for disabled people to have home adaptions


We would like to hear your views on our draft Disabled Facilities Grant and Housing Assistance Policy for the Royal Borough of Windsor & Maidenhead. We are particularly keen to hear what you think of our plans to introduce additional financial assistance to help disabled people have home adaptations and essential home repairs.

Your feedback is important for us to understand how best to provide financial assistance that meets people’s needs and to continue to help disabled people stay safe and independent in their own homes. We welcome feedback from all residents, carers, landlords, partners organisations/practitioners, voluntary and community organisations and others.

What are we consulting on?

Local authorities must legally provide Disabled Facilities Grants (DFGs) to all those who are eligible, in order to fund home adaptations to enable independent living. Examples of works include ramps, stair lifts, level access showers and door widening.

In addition to DFGs, local authorities can choose to introduce a Housing Assistance Policy offering a wider range of discretionary financial assistance, such as top-up funding when cost of eligible works exceed the maximum funding allowed through a Disability Facilities Grant alone, which is nowadays more common due to inflation.

Therefore, we are currently consulting on a draft Disabled Facilities Grant and Housing Assistance Policy, which sets out the eligibility criteria, conditions and application processes for various forms of extra assistance.

In addition to a means-tested top-up on Disabled Facilities Grants, the draft policy also includes funding towards costs of moving to a different property where an adaptation is not feasible or economically viable; dedicated support for residents in palliative care towards funding lifts, ramps and new w/c facilities; and a grant to help replace obsolete or defective equipment for a disabled person.

How to share your feedback

We would like to hear your views on the draft policy, particularly the scope and eligibility of our proposed additional discretionary financial assistance. Please see the links on the right to see the draft policy, the scope and eligibility criteria for the new extra assistance schemes, and complete the consultation form to share your feedback.

The consultation closes at 23.59 on Friday 2 February 2024.

  • CLOSED: This survey has concluded.

    Disabled Facilities Grant & Housing Assistance Policy 2024 - Public Consultation

    Dear Reader

    We’re consulting on a new draft policy which, if approved, would mean extra financial support for disabled people to have household adaptions, helping people to live safe and independent lives at home.

     

    Our current policy dates back to 2010 and offers a small number of financial assistance packages for disabled people. One is the Disabled Facilities Grant (DFG), a means tested grant offering financial assistance to cover the costs of home adaptations up to £30,000.  

     

    Adaptations may range from installing ramps, handrails, or stairlifts to widening doorways, adjusting countertop heights, modifying kitchens, incorporating accessible bathing facilities, larger construction schemes such as extensions, and providing new ground floor facilities for bedrooms and bathrooms.

     

    Each year, inflation on construction costs has increasingly limited the value of DFGs, because the maximum grant award is capped, meaning the grants can no longer fully support a wide range of adaptations for disabled people. In response, we are seeking to introduce a number of additional discretionary assistance packages within our new proposed DFG Grant and Housing Assistance Policy.

     

    We’re particularly keen to hear feedback on the proposed scope and eligibility criteria of the below additional support packages, to help ensure we are meeting the needs of the borough’s most vulnerable people, before councillors make the final decision.

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Page last updated: 21 May 2024, 10:09 PM