A major adaptation is a major or permanent change to your home to enable an adult or child with disabilities to access essential rooms in the home independently.
If you or your child have a disability and have difficulties accessing essential rooms in your home, following assessment by an occupational therapist (OT) or occupational therapy assistant, they may recommend changes to your home if equipment is not able to meet your needs.
These changes are called major adaptations and should help to improve and provide:
- access to and from the home or building
- access to the principal family room
- toilet facilities
- suitable washing facilities such as wet floor shower
- safe access to the garden
Examples of major adaptations are:
- wet floor or level access showers
- stairlifts or through floor lifts
- external ramps for wheelchair access
- automatic toilets
If the OT or occupational therapy assistant makes a recommendation for a major adaptation, this is then passed to the Home Improvement Agency (HIA) within the housing department to arrange for the works and installation of the recommended major adaptation.
You will be allocated a case officer of surveyor from the Home Improvement Agency to support with progressing the OT recommendation.
Disabled Facilities Grant (DFG)
Funding is available for major adaptations to the home via a Disabled Facilities Grant (DFG) if you are a Lambeth homeowner or tenant of a Housing Associations (in Lambeth) to meet the needs of the resident with disabilities.
The Disabled Facilities Grant (DFG) is a national scheme.
To qualify for this grant, the OT will need to establish if the person has disabilities and is therefore eligible. A landlord can apply on behalf of a tenant with a disability.
The person applying for the grant needs to live in the property as their only or main residence throughout the grant period, which is currently 5 years.
How much grant is available?
The DFG can fund up to £30,000 for any necessary adaptation works. The amount of grant available depends upon the individual’s income and savings. Applicants are restricted to one grant with a maximum limit of £30,000 within a one-year period.
The law requires the council to assess the resident’s income and savings (and their partner’s). This is not required in the case of works for a child under 18. Following the assessment, you will be advised about how much grant you can get. As the DFG is means tested, you may have to pay a contribution towards the cost of works.
To check if you are eligible for DFG funding, take the assessment on the adapt my home website.
The grant is not payable to the resident but is administered by the Home Improvement Agency who manage the project and pay contractors.
The DFG is not available retrospectively for works carried out in the past.
In some cases, it may not be possible to carry out necessary works due to the age or layout or structure of the building. For example, it is sometimes not possible to widen doorways for wheelchair access in older properties.
Where the grant applicant decides that their needs could be met in a different way to that recommended by the OT, the council will only be able to fund the cost of the works recommended by the OT. Any additional costs will have to be met by the applicant and their family. In such cases, the council will need to be satisfied that the alternative works meet the person with disability identified needs.
If there is a change of ownership within 10 years of the completion of the works or where the property is otherwise sold, the council may require repayment of some of the grant. Grants under £5000 do not have to be repaid. A partial repayment of grants may be required above £5000, up to a maximum £10,000 repayment. If more than one grant has been paid, the total of both grants will be taken into account. This will be recorded as a local land charge against the property.
In exceptional cases, a top-up discretionary DFG might be available. Discretionary cases are considered by a panel consisting of officers from within Housing, Regeneration and Environment and Adult and Community Services. The Home Improvement Agency case officer involved will advise in these cases.
Funding for Lambeth Council tenants
Funding is also available from the council for council tenants who require major adaptations, however the assessment process remains the same.