Find out if you're eligible for the Disabled Facilities Grant and how it's calculated
The works must be for a disabled person who lives at the property as their only or main home. They are referred to as the “relevant person”. The applicant doesn’t necessarily have to be the disabled person but must either be an owner or tenant of the property to be adapted. Occupiers of caravans and mobile homes may also be eligible. It must be the intention for the disabled person to remain living there during the grant period (currently 5 years).
A grant of up to £30,000 may be available to cover the cost of the adaptations and associated fees, however a test of resources is carried out in order to determine what contribution (if any) you would need to make towards these costs. The test of resources is set out by the government and takes into consideration the income, savings and assets of the relevant person’s household including their spouse or partner.
The test of resources calculation is quite complicated and involves converting any savings over the first £6,000 into what is known as “Tariff Income” which is then added to other income. The government have set a threshold, for how much they believe a person/s should be able to live on, taking into consideration a number of factors including the person’s disabilities, dependants etc. If the total income is below this threshold, once the various allowances and disregards have been taken into account, or if the relevant person is already receiving certain means-tested benefits, then you will be entitled to a full grant. If the relevant person’s total income is over this threshold then the amount that you would need to contribute would be calculated from the amount of income over this threshold.
A test of resources is not required where an application is made for the benefit of a child or a young person under the age of 19 for whom child benefit is payable.
Find out how we calculate client contributions for the grant.
If you would like to get an approximate idea of what your contribution is likely to be, then please complete the online preliminary test of resources form.
The grant is based upon the lowest reasonable cost of the works. This is normally the lowest of a number of contractors' estimates.
Where a particular contractor is favoured by the applicant, but is not the lowest priced, the applicant can make up the difference between the grant and the higher price.
Please note that our grants/loan assistance cannot be used for works already carried out and you will therefore need to wait for the grant/loan assistance to be officially approved before commencing the works.