Process a DFG

Local authorities should consider providing a Home Improvement Agency service to offer practical help to carry out home adaptations and improvements. The service offered varies but normally covers help in diagnosing issues, identifying solutions, assisting in raising money to cover the costs (including grant applications), selecting a builder, and ensuring that work is carried out properly. Some agencies are independent non-profit organisations, some are run by housing associations or private companies, and others operate in-house within a local authority.

There are 5 key stages of delivering a home adaptation.

• Stage 0: first contact with services
• Stage 1: first contact to assessment and identification of the relevant works;
• Stage 2: identification of the relevant works to submission of the formal grant application
• Stage 3: grant application to grant approval
• Stage 4: approval of grant to completion of works.

The timescales for moving through these stages will depend upon the urgency and complexity of the adaptations required. More urgent cases should be prioritised for action, but larger and more complex schemes will take longer to complete. The following table sets out best practice targets, which should be met in 95% of cases:

Priority

It is recommended that authorities use a triage system to make an initial assessment of the complexity and urgency of a case. A good triage system will help everyone gain a shared understanding of the likely timescales for delivery. It will also enable the right team with the right skills to properly assess the case.

See our guide: Assess a DFG

Authorities are recommended to treat cases as urgent in the following circumstances:

• Coming out of hospital and at risk
• Living alone and at risk
• Severe cognitive dysfunction and at risk
• Living with a carer who is elderly or disabled
• Living without heating or hot water and at risk
• Limited life expectancy

Categorising complexity and urgency at this early stage will set the target timescales for the rest of the process. However, this should be kept under review as circumstances change or if further information is uncovered during the assessment.

We have developed an experimental version of our triage tool which will calculate a target completion date based on complexity and urgency.

The Housing Grants, Construction and Regeneration Act requires the local housing authority to be “satisfied that the applicant has, or proposes to acquire, an owner’s interest in every parcel of land on which the relevant works are to be carried out.”

There is no specific requirement for the housing authority to obtain proof of ownership other than the owner’s certificate but it is good practice to cross reference the details with the Land Registry.

There is also no requirement for the housing authority to seek permission from the applicant’s mortgage provider or to ensure they have adequate household insurance, although they should advise the applicant of the need to inform both.

A land registry search is a straight-forward process that should be done by an admin officer in the early stages of an application.

There should be no reason why this search has to be carried out by a different team or department – it’s as quick to do the search as to send an email to request it.

The means test for DFG largely mirrors the system of calculating entitlement to Housing Benefit. It is quite complicated to use but those in receipt of certain means-tested benefits are ‘passported’ to a full grant and will not have to make a contribution towards the cost of work. These ‘passporting’ benefits are:

• Universal Credit
• Income Support
• Income-based Employment and Support Allowance (not contribution-based ESA)
• Income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance (not contribution-based JSA)
• Guarantee Pension Credit (not Savings Pension Credit alone)
• Working Tax Credit and/or Child Tax Credit (where your annual income for the purposes of the tax credits assessment was below £15,050)
• Housing Benefit

Applications for disabled children are also passported to a full grant.

Preliminary means test for DFG

The DFG means test is in place to ensure that DFG funding reaches those people who are on the lowest incomes and least able to afford to pay for the adaptations themselves.

Authorities should consider a preliminary means test for DFG at an early stage. It can be frustrating for both applicants and staff to discover at a late stage that the DFG means test indicates they will receive little or no financial assistance. A preliminary enquiry about resources (e.g. through a self-service online portal such as adaptmyhome.org.uk) can short-circuit these delays and may encourage the disabled person to pursue other solutions.

Accessing social security data

Benefits data can be shared with local authorities, to help decide if a person is entitled to a DFG on the basis of being in receipt of benefits, or having a low income.

This is allowed under in Regulation 5(1)(b) of the Social Security (Information sharing in relation to Welfare Services etc.) Regulations 2012. (Opens a new window)

The Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) provides this data to LAs for use in the administration of Disabled Facilities Grant to reduce the burden on LAs by not having to contact DWP teams, by a number of means, to gather this information.

The data can be access through an online Customer Information System (CIS) as outlined in DWP Guidance.

Your authority will also need to sign up to a data-sharing memorandum of understanding. (Opens a new window) It needs to be signed by the LA Chief Executive and will usually be available through the Housing Benefit team leader.

Social care financial assessment

The last 3 reviews of the DFG means test have recommended using an alternative – the financial assessment used for social care. In May 2020 we hosted a webinar to look at how the social care assessment works and how it could apply to DFGs.