Disabled Flintshire residents face tighter rules on home grants

Flintshire councillors have supported plans to lower how much grant funding disabled residents can apply for without means-testing by £5,000.

Currently disabled residents in Flintshire who live in privately owned, privately rented or social housing accommodation can apply for a Disabled Facilities Grant (DFG) to make essential adaptations to their home.

Providing the funding is mandatory for the local authority under the Housing Grants, Construction and Regeneration Act 1996. It ensures people with disabilities can live independently for longer, preventing the need for the council to offer more costly residential care.

Until now Flintshire residents have been able to apply for up to £15,000 for adaptations to their properties – which can include hand rails, wet rooms and even elevators – without means-testing.

But Flintshire County Council’s Community and Housing Committee has backed a proposal to reduce the threshold to £10,000. This means if a project costs £12,000, the final £2,000 will be subject to means-testing – meaning disabled residents will need to pay some or all of that additional cost.

There will be no change to the statutory upper limit of £36,000 for grant funding, with Flintshire continuing to rule on a case-by-case basis on applications above that amount for works like home extensions. But only the first £10,000 of any application will be exempt from means-testing.

“We haven’t got an infinite amount of money to spend on adaptations,” said Jen Griffiths, Flintshire Council’s Service Manager for Housing; Welfare and Communities.

“The cost of adaptations and all building work has gone up significantly since 2020 but the government limit has remained static at £36,000. If the cost of works exceeds £36,00 we have a top-up panel that rules on additional funding and we can go over.

“To be honest, £36,000 doesn’t get you very much these days and more and more cases are coming through that due to the increasing cost of works.”

To date the highest grant amount Flintshire Council has approved is £110,000.

In addition, properties that are adapted using a grant then sold within 10 years previously had to repay up to £10,000 as a land charge to the council. The new plans will see that repayment charge increase to £26,000.

The committee also supported a proposal to cut its relocation grant – designed to help meet the difference in property values when a disabled resident has to move house due to their disability – from £20,000 to £10,000.

The relocation grant will now be restricted to funding legal fees and moving costs. Officers said in the past some residents had used the money to increase their deposit – risking them being approved for larger mortgages they could not afford.

“We’ve reduced the threshold for means-testing to £10,000 because we have budgetary requirements,” said Ms Griffiths. “The land charges just provides an assurance around our investment to safeguard public funds.”

By Alec Doyle – Local Democracy Reporter