Disabled Facilities Grants

Disabled Facilities Grants (DFGs) are available to allow you to stay safely in your own home. There may be other grants available in your area.

What a Disabled Facilities Grant is for

DFGs help meet costs towards home adaptations, improving access to the home, garden, and community. 

Work might include:

  • ramps
  • stair lifts
  • level access shower facilities
  • specialist toilet facilities
  • making the property wheelchair accessible

Eligibility

You can apply for a DFG if you are:

  • registered or registerable as disabled (your social worker or occupational therapist can tell you this) and an owner occupier or tenant of a property, caravan or houseboat
  • acting on behalf of a person with disabilities who lives in your home
  • a landlord acting on behalf of a tenant who has disabilities

If you are a council tenant, please contact your Social Housing Adaptations Officer for further information.

Our full policy and procedure for delivering disabled facility grants is set out below:

Private Sector Housing Assistance and Renewal Policy (PDF , 1.42MB)

Disabled Facilities Grants booklet (PDF , 1.72MB)

How to apply

You need a referral from the Adult Social Care team to qualify for a grant.

Make an adult social care enquiry

Adult Social Care Team
Email: customerservicesASC@westmorlandandfurness.gov.uk
Telephone: 0300 373 3301 

We will then forward the request to the Occupational Therapy Team. 

Occupational Therapy will arrange a visit to your home and assess your needs and eligibility. The assessment will look at reasonable alterations that will meet your needs, based on the current layout and state of your home. 

If you are eligible, they will make a referral to us. Then we will guide you through the process, and give you an application form.

It may not be appropriate to adapt your home, and the team may advise you to look for accommodation that suits your needs better. 

Financial checks

You will be automatically eligible for a grant if you receive any:

  • Universal Credit
  • Income Support
  • Job Seekers Allowance (income related only)
  • Employment and Support Allowance
  • Housing Benefit
  • Council Tax Reduction
  • Child and working tax credits (income less than £15,050)
  • Pension Credit Guarantee (excluding Savings Credit) 

If the grant is for the benefit of a child, you will be eligible without any financial checks.

If you don’t receive any benefits, we’ll run financial checks to see if you are eligible. 

Grants are given to those least able to pay for the work. Depending on your finances, a grant may pay for all, for some or for none of the cost of the work.

You may be asked to complete a means test and provide evidence of any savings/income that you have.

It’s important to give us the requested information as quickly as possible. We can guide you through the process. 

Work must not start until the grant is approved. If a grant is not approved and works start, any costs will be your responsibility, and no grant will be awarded. 

If the grant approved does not cover the full cost of the work, you are responsible for the full remaining cost. 

The application process

To make an application, you’ll need to provide:

  • a referral from Adult Social Care
  • a completed grant application form
  • your landlord’s agreement for alterations to your home, if you rent it
  • proof that you own the property – deeds or land registry documents
  • joint owner consent

Repayments if you move home

If you are a homeowner (in the case of a child's adaptation, this will apply to the parents) a land charge will be registered against the property for the cost of the grant up to a maximum of £10,000.

This will be repayable upon disposal (whether through sale, assignment or title transfer) within 10 years of the date that the works are completed.

Contact us

General Customer Service for all areas

Telephone: 0300 373 3300

Eden area

Email: better.homes@westmorlandandfurness.gov.uk 

Address:
Voreda House 
Portland Place 
Penrith 
Cumbria
CA11 7BF

South Lakes area

Email: housingstandards@westmorlandandfurness.gov.uk 

Address:
South Lakeland House 
Lowther Street 
Kendal 
Cumbria
LA9 4DQ

Furness area

Email: dfg@westmorlandandfurness.gov.uk

Address:
Barrow Town Hall 
Duke Street 
Barrow-in-Furness 
Cumbria
LA14 2LD