Disabled Facilities Grants
These grants are designed to help people who have disabilities
to have the maximum amount of independence in their homes. The
grants are available to owner-occupiers and tenants. They are
mandatory up to a value of £30,000. In some cases we will make a
charge on your property which means that upon sale or changing of
hands up to £10,000 of the grant will be repaid. The
following adaptations are eligable under this grant:
- providing access to and from the home e.g. ramps, shallow
steps, hardstandings etc
- making the home safe for the disabled person and others living
in the house e.g. guard rails, safety glass etc
- providing access to the principal family room, e.g. by widening
doorways
- providing access to a bedroom e.g. by providing a stairlift or
extension
- providing access to a lavatory e.g. by altering bathroom
layouts or providing specialist WCs
- providing access to a bath or shower e.g. by replacing a bath
with a level access shower
- providing access to a wash hand basin
- enabling the disabled occupier to prepare and cook food e.g. by
providing low level kitchen units
- improving or providing space heating or heating controls
- enabling the disabled occupier to use and control power, light
and heat e.g. by altering the position of light switches and power
sockets
- enabling the disabled occupier to move around the home to
care for another person e.g. to enable a parent to care for a
child
For owner-occupiers and tenants the grant is subject to a test
of resources (unless you are in receipt of a qualifying income
based benefit) but you do not have to be in receipt of a means
tested benefit to be able to get a grant. The test of resources
looks at your household income and compares it with standard needs
based on your family size, ages, any disability etc. Any excess of
income over needs is used to calculate the amount you should be
able to borrow from a bank and this is the amount that you are
expected to contribute towards the cost of any work. If you
are in receipt of an income based benefit you are entitled to a
full grant.
If the costs are less than your contribution then you will not
receive any grant. If the costs exceed your contribution then you
will get a grant equal to the cost of works less your contribution.
Even if you do not receive any money in grant there are
circumstances when it is worth applying and having a zero grant
approved. This is because any further works carried out within the
next ten years will take into account the contribution which you
have already made.
Grants for amounts in excess of £30,000 and for other works
which are not mandatory are at the discretion of the Council.
Applications for these will be considered on their merits and in
the light of the amount of money the Council has available.
Contact Details:
For more information about Disabled Facility Grants or to
speak to someone directly please call 01929 557311 or email us
at
mikelong@purbeck-dc.gov.uk.
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