Meet Karim

Karim is a council tenant and uses a wheelchair. He lives with his wife, who helps provide support to him, and his two daughters who cannot walk unaided.

Karim wanted more independence to prepare meals for his family and asked for a Disabled Facilities Grant to adapt their kitchen to make it wheelchair accessible.

The barriers Karim faced

Beset by avoidable delays
(Case reference: 22 014 959)

When asked, however, the county council took six months too long to get an occupational therapist (OT) to assess the family’s situation. The surveyor chosen for the project also took a long time to draw up a schedule of works and get quotes from contractors. And Karim’s district council, who was responsible for the project, added another six months to the works by letting the case drift.

In the end, it took a year and nine months to complete the adaptations to the kitchen, including six months where Karim could not use the kitchen safely at all. To cap it all off, the local council kept Karim in the dark on progress for nearly a year of that time, despite Karim, and even the county council on his behalf, chasing it for updates.

Dispute over costs
(Case reference: 23 000 219)

Part of the delay in getting the adaption complete was also because the council did not properly record the extent of the works required before obtaining quotes from contractors. This led to a dispute over certain parts of the work – particularly whether the oven would be moved to eye level to allow Karim to use it.

In complex cases, the £30,000 statutory limit on DFGs often isn’t enough to meet the costs of the adaptations required, and this pressure does not help councils in meeting their duties to deliver adaptations to meet the needs of Disabled people.

Adaptations for children
(Case reference: 22 014 883)

Later, Karim asked for the adaptations to his home to be extended by a DFG to support how his daughters moved around the home. He asked for it to fund underfloor heating because they crawled to get around. He also asked for lift access to a cellar so the children could use the extra space with their walking frames, as space was limited on the ground floor.

The council decided there was no need to use the cellar and that a DFG could not be used for underfloor heating. However, it had used old occupational therapy (OT) assessments when doing so. It also had not properly taken into account the developmental needs of the children and their progress towards maximum independence or sought the views of the rest of the family, as the guidance says it should.

Advice for councils – getting the basics right

DFGs are complicated, requiring multiple council services to be involved (from different councils in two-tier areas), third party contractors, and sometimes landlords. And with factors outside councils’ control already causing injustice, getting the basics right is all the more important.

On DFGs, this means:

• ensuring robust procedures set out expectations for all services involved in delivering DFGs, including timescales, to avoid delay
• communicating clearly and effectively with applicants
• keeping accurate and detailed records, particularly of the agreed works
• ensuring the completed works meet the assessed needs
• having regard to the additional guidance on DFGs for children