DFG Regulations

The 1996 Act is the primary law that established the modern Disabled Facilities Grant system. It places a duty on local authorities to provide grants for home adaptations to eligible disabled people​. Key points include:

• DFG as a Mandatory Grant: The Act makes DFG a mandatory grant. If a disabled person meets the criteria (for example, the adaptations are necessary and appropriate for their needs), the council must approve a grant.
  
• Who Can Apply: It sets out who can apply for a DFG – including homeowners, tenants, and landlords on behalf of disabled tenants – and requires that the disabled person intends to live in the property for a reasonable period (currently usually 5+ years) after the works​.
• What Works Are Covered: The Act defines the purposes for which a DFG can be given (e.g. facilitating access to the home, making the dwelling safe, improving heating or access to essential amenities for the disabled occupant). These purposes have been updated by later regulations (for example, access to gardens was added by the The Disabled Facilities Grants (Maximum Amounts and Additional Purposes) (England) Order 2008)
  
• Conditions and Repayment: It gives powers to set conditions on grants. For instance, the Act allows regulations or consents to require repayment of grant in certain situations.

Overall, the 1996 Act is the foundation of DFG. Subsequent regulations, orders, and consents detail how the grant works in practice (such as the means test, maximum grant amounts, and specific conditions). All the items below are linked to powers given by this Act.

We have reproduced the full text of the 1996 Act relating to Disabled Facilities Grants, with editing marks and repealed sections removed for clarity.

The Housing Renewal Grants Regulations set out the means test for the Disabled Facilities Grant. The test looks at the income and savings of the “relevant person” (usually the disabled person or their partner) to decide how much of the cost they should pay.

The rules are designed to make sure that public money goes to those who need it most. The council uses a set formula to compare someone’s income and capital against what they are allowed for everyday living.

If income is below this level, the applicant pays nothing. If it’s higher, they pay a calculated contribution.

Key Updates Over Time

Since 1996, the means test has been updated several times to reflect changes in benefits and to make the process fairer:

2005–2008:

• Families applying for a disabled child were exempted from the means test
• More people on low incomes were “passporting” through the test with a zero contribution
  

2008:

• Working and Child Tax Credit recipients added to the list of passported benefits
  
• Means test fully removed for children’s DFG applications
  

2009–2014:

• Income-related ESA and Universal Credit added as passporting benefits
  
• Personal Independence Payment (PIP) treated in line with DLA for any income disregards

The Housing Renewal Grants (Services and Charges) Order 1996 allows local authorities to include certain extra costs in a Disabled Facilities Grant—not just the building work itself.

These are known as ancillary charges, and they cover the professional help often needed to plan and manage home adaptations. Without this support, many applicants would struggle to get the work done safely and legally.

What Can Be Included

The following services and charges are commonly funded through the grant:

• Architects’ or surveyors’ fees – for drawing up plans and specifications
  
• Planning and building control fees – if permission is needed
  
• Structural engineer reports – where the building work is complex
  
• Occupational therapist assessments – if arranged privately
  
• Project management or supervision – often through a Home Improvement Agency
  
• Legal fees – for things like land searches if ownership needs to be confirmed
  

The grant can also cover preliminary costs, such as preparing cost estimates or obtaining technical reports.

In some cases, a Disabled Facilities Grant (DFG) may come with a repayment condition. This rule was introduced by the government in 2008 and allows councils to recover part of the grant if the home is sold within 10 years of the work being completed.

This rule applies only when:

• The DFG is over £5,000
• The applicant owns the property
  
• The council chooses to apply the condition
  

How It Works

Under the Disabled Facilities Grant (Conditions relating to approval or payment of Grant) General Consent 2008, councils can:

• Place a local land charge on the property
  
• If the home is sold or transferred within 10 years, ask for repayment of the amount above £5,000, up to a maximum of £10,000
  

For example:
If a grant of £9,000 was given and the property is sold within 10 years, the council can ask for up to £4,000 back.

What the Council Must Consider

Before asking for repayment, the council must look at the applicant’s situation and decide if it’s reasonable. This includes:

• Would repayment cause financial hardship?
  
• Is the move needed for work or health reasons?
  
• Is the person moving to give or receive care?
  

This means the charge isn’t enforced automatically. Each case is considered on its own merits.

The Regulatory Reform (Housing Assistance) (England and Wales) Order 2002, known as the RRO, changed the way councils could offer help with housing. Although it didn’t replace the Disabled Facilities Grant (DFG), it made a big difference to how councils could support disabled people.

Before the RRO, councils could only give help through tightly controlled national grant schemes. After the RRO, councils were given much more freedom. They could design their own local policies to help with home repairs, adaptations, or improvements—including offering extra support alongside DFGs.

For DFGs, the RRO meant:

• Councils could offer discretionary top-ups if the cost of works was more than the DFG maximum (£30,000).

• They could fund adaptations outside the strict DFG rules, such as smaller works without a full means test or urgent adaptations without long delays.

• They could create flexible schemes to help people relocate if their home couldn’t be adapted.

• They had to publish a Housing Assistance Policy, setting out how any extra help would be offered.

The DFG itself stayed as a mandatory grant with clear rules. But the RRO gave councils the tools to go further—helping more people, faster, in ways that better fit local needs.