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The 1996 Act

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We have reproduced the full text of the 1996 Act relating to Disabled Facilities Grants, with editing marks and repealed sections removed for clarity.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

The 1996 Act sets the framework for the Disabled Facilities Grant. It gives local authorities a legal duty to award grants where the criteria are met—but it also allows for a maximum amount to be set by regulations.

Under section 23(1) of the Act, this cap defines the highest amount a local council must pay. Anything above that is discretionary. This means a council can choose to top up the grant—but it doesn’t have to.

How the Limit Has Changed

The maximum DFG amount has been increased over time through statutory orders:

The Means Test

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

Fees and Charges

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.

Land Charges

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.

Other Directions and Consents

As well as the main DFG legislation, there are special Consents and Directions that give councils extra powers to manage grants sensibly. These powers are mostly used to protect public funding, recycle equipment, or deal with unusual cases like shared land or compensation claims. They allow councils to make sure the grant system works fairly for everyone, both now and in the future.

Here’s how the key consents and orders are used in practice:

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Housing Renewal Grants (Owner’s Interest) Directions 1996

 

In practice, this Direction is mainly used when a Disabled Facilities Grant is needed for a dropped kerb to create access across a pavement. It allows councils to approve a grant even if the applicant doesn’t own the land (such as the public highway) but has permission to do the work. Without this rule, simple adaptations like dropped kerbs could be blocked by technical ownership issues. It gives councils flexibility to fund essential access improvements that involve land outside the applicant’s control.

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Housing Renewal Grants (Additional Conditions) (England) General Consent 1996

Today, this Consent is most often used for reclaiming stairlifts, hoists, and other specialist equipment after a disabled person no longer needs them. Councils can attach a condition at the time of grant approval that requires the applicant to tell them if the equipment is no longer needed. This allows the council to remove and recycle valuable items, helping another person without the need for new public spending. It’s a practical way to stretch funding further while respecting the needs of families.

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Housing Renewal Main Grants (Recovery of Compensation) General Consent 1996

This Consent allows councils to recover a grant if the applicant later receives a compensation payout linked to their disability – for example, from a personal injury claim. The idea is simple: if a person later receives money that covers the cost of adaptations, it’s reasonable to ask them to repay the public grant, fully or partly, out of that money. This ensures fairness in the system without penalising people who don’t have other resources.

Using Discretion

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.

LINKS TO ALL REGULATIONS, CONSENTS AND ORDERS

1996 Regulations

The Housing Grants, Construction and Regeneration Act 1996 sets out the main provisions for the Disabled Facilities Grant. Alongside the Act a number of orders, directions and consents were published that detail how many of the provisions work in practice – including the means test and the upper limit.

2001-2003 Regulations

A number of orders and regulations were introduced between 2001 and 2003, mostly linked to the introduction of the Regulatory Reform Order which amended the Act to remove all other grants, leaving only the Disabled Facilities Grant.

Later Regulations

Following a review of Disabled Facilities Grants and a consultation on a range of changes, there were several orders, regulations and consents introduced. These included raising the upper limit and introducing local land charges for grants over £5,000.