Housing Grants

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Housing Grants in England

Aids and minor adaptations in England

In England, your local authority can provide you with an aid or a minor adaptation to your property as long as it is to assist with nursing at home or aid daily living. There is no cost for this, but the aid or adaptation should not cost more than £1,000.

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Disabled facilities grants (DFGs)

Disabled facilities grants are grants provided by your local authority to help meet the cost of adapting a property for the needs of a disabled person. The scheme operates in England, Northern Ireland and Wales.

You may be able to get help with adaptations as part of a care and support package provided by your local social care department.

Read our information on DFGs.

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Housing Grants in Wales

Aids and minor adaptations in Wales

In Wales, there is a ‘Rapid Response Adaptations Programme’, designed to quickly provide small-scale adaptations to the homes of elderly and disabled people to help them continue to live independently. The scheme can also provide help if you are leaving hospital or residential care. The scheme is delivered by Care and Repair Cymru (www.careandrepair.org.uk/en/). To use it, you need a referral from your local authority or a health professional.

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Disabled facilities grants (DFGs)

You may be able to get help with adaptations as part of a care and support package provided by your local social care department.

Read our information on DFGs.

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Other housing grants in England and Wales

In addition to disabled facilities grants, local authorities have the option to provide financial and other assistance for repair, improvement and adaptation

Under the Regulatory Reform (Housing Assistance) (England and Wales) Order 2002, local authorities have the option to provide financial and other assistance for repair, improvement and adaptation. This is help available in addition to disabled facilities grants.

You can be given help in the form of a loan or grant, equipment or materials or advice. Local authorities can set their own conditions for deciding who gets help. They may, for example, choose whether to look at your income and savings when you apply for a grant.

You can be given help to:

get accommodation;
adapt, improve or repair accommodation;
demolish accommodation; or
replace accommodation that has been demolished.

Your local authority must publish a policy explaining what kind of help they may give, who can get it, what information is available, how to apply for it and how to complain. Contact your local housing department to find out more.

Guidance about these powers is contained in Housing renewal circular 05/2003, available at http://tinyurl.com/cslydcw

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Housing grants in Scotland

In Scotland, under The Housing (Scotland) Act 2006, local authorities are allowed to provide grants, loans, subsidised loans, practical assistance and information or advice to home owners for repairs, improvements, adaptations and the buying or selling of a house.

If you are a home owner, you can get a grant for:

structural adaptations to a house which are essential to a disabled person's needs; or
providing standard amenities intended to meet the needs of a disabled person - such as a fixed bath or shower, wash-hand basin or sink or a toilet.

The grant will be 100% of approved costs if you or a member of your household get universal credit, the guarantee credit of pension credit or income-related employment and support allowance. In other cases, the minimum grant will be 80%.

If you are a tenant, you can only get a grant or loan for one of the following:

for work which has been your responsibility under your tenancy for a period of two years before your application;
for adaptations to a disabled person's house to make it suitable for their accommodation, welfare or employment, or for the reinstatement of any house adapted; or
for work which is required as a matter of urgency for the health, safety or security of the occupants of a house, including, in particular, work to repair it or provide means of escape from fire or other fire precautions.

For more information, contact your local authority. See also Funding Adaptations - A guide for local authority tenants.

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Housing grants in Northern Ireland

Disabled facilities grants (DFGs)

You may be able to get help with adaptations as part of a care and support package provided by your local social care department.

Read our information on DFGs.

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Other housing grants in Northern Ireland

The following housing grants/schemes are available in Northern Ireland:

Renovation Grant - For the improvement of homes which have been inspected and found to be unfit to live in, or a home that is presently fit to live in but which will become unfit if repairs are not carried out. These grants will only be approved in exceptional circumstances.

Repair Grant - A grant which is available to landlords, agents and tenants towards the cost of repairing houses following the issue of statutory notices by the local authority.

Replacement Grant - For the replacement of homes which have been deemed unfit to live in and repair is not an option. These grants will only be approved in exceptional circumstances.

Home Repair Assistance Grant - A grant available to anyone eligible to carry out small-scale work. These grants will only be approved in exceptional circumstances.

The Northern Ireland Housing executive website has information about these at www.nihe.gov.uk/Housing-Help/Grants/Types-of-grants-available

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