Adaptations and improvements to older and disabled persons' homes

What help is available

You can apply for a grant for essential adaptations to give you better freedom of movement into and around your home or to provide essential facilities in your home.

This could include work to:

• Make it easier to get into and out of your home, for example by widening doors or putting in ramps
• Make access easier to the living room, bedroom, kitchen and bathroom for example by putting in a stair lift or a floor lift
• Provide suitable bathroom and kitchen facilities such as over bath showers or replacing a bath with a level access shower
• Provide suitable kitchen facilities at wheelchair height so that you can use the facilities independently, including building new facilities if necessary
• Provide or improve a heating system in your home
• Adapt heating or lighting controls to make them easier for you to use
• Improve access and movement around your home so that you can care for someone who lives with you

How to apply

To request disabled adaptions to be carried out in your home you will need to have an assessment carried out by an Occupational Therapist (OT). If you are a homeowner or a private or housing association tenant you may qualify for financial assistance by way of a Disabled Facilities Grant (DFG) to help with the cost. If you a council tenant, you do not need to apply for a grant.

You must be referred by an OT for an assessment to see what work is necessary and appropriate for your individual needs. The OT will either arrange for the item(s) to be provided or they will send a referral to us, in the Home Improvement Agency.

If you are over 18 years old

To arrange an OT Assessment, please contact the Adult Social Care team.

For young people under 18 years old

You should contact your child’s social worker or one of our children’s Occupational Therapists. For an initial screening for eligibility call 020 8871 6161.

What happens next

The OT will discuss how your disability, illness or impairment affects you in your everyday life. They may provide you with aids and adaptations to help with your day to day living such as grab rails or a bath board. Or you may require bigger items such as a level access shower. These are called major adaptations and we, in the Home Improvement Agency, can assist you with.

If the OT deems you are eligible for a major adaptation your case will be referred to us.

If you are a home-owner or a private or housing association tenant we will visit you to complete an application.  This will include looking at your finances. We use this information to calculate whether you are eligible for a Disabled Facilities Grant (DFG). If you are eligible we will let you know in writing within two weeks.  

If you are a council tenant a DFG application is not required and we do not need to carry out a means test. The OT will pass details of the adaptation work required to us and we will pay for the works.

Getting the adaptation work done

We will allocate a surveyor from our Team to draw up plans from the OT recommendations. We will support you through the whole process by giving advice, assisting with the grant application, surveying, inspecting and supervising approved contractors.

Our surveyor can also provide you with a list of contractors for information purposes, but they cannot recommend anyone to carry out the works. They will make sure the quotation for the work is  realistic and cost effective, and will inspect the works once completed to ensure they meet the OT brief. This will be done before we release any grant money.

You can make your own arrangements for the work. In this case our surveyor will draw up plans from the OT recommendations which you can then take to your agent. Once the works are completed our surveyor will inspect the works to ensure they meet the OT brief. This will be done before we release any grant money.

Grant money will only be released when works are completed and our surveyor has carried out the final inspection and confirmed that the works meet with the OT brief.

You will then be issued with a warranty certificate, which you need to keep.