Disabled Facilities Grants: Chronic Illnesses
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether she has made a recent assessment of the adequacy of waiting times for the processing of Disabled Facilities Grants for people with (a) motor neurone disease and (b) other rapidly progressing diseases.
Answered by Alison McGovern
The government recognises the importance of timely home adaptations, especially for individuals with rapidly progressing conditions, such as motor neurone disease.
Local authorities have a statutory duty to provide adaptations for people who satisfy a needs assessment, eligibility criteria and a means test, and have powers to agree a more generous local policy.
Local authorities also have a statutory duty to provide a decision on Disabled Facilities Grants applications within 6 months of receipt, and the works must usually be completed within 12 months of the approval date. Government guidance sets out that local authorities should prioritise urgent cases, and work to quicker, best practice timescales. The guidance is available here.
To support effective delivery, government also funds a national body for home improvement
agencies, currently Foundations, to provide support and advice to local authorities to help them deliver the DFG as efficiently as possible.
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