Disabled Facilities Grants

Craig Everest at home, which is fully adapted for his wheelchair © Richard Bailey Making essential adaptations to your home can be expensive. The Disabled Facilities Grant is designed to help towards the costs.

But the process of getting a grant can be very complicated. And what was worse, a stringent means test excluded many people, even children.

However, on 27 October 2005 the Government made an announcement which gave the charity, and its coalition partners, a reason to celebrate - it announced that the means testing is to be abolished. This allows all families of children with disabilities the right to apply for grants of up to £25,000 without means testing.


Background and history

For over eight years parents and families throughout the UK have been lobbying for the removal of the means test which prevents some families from accessing the Disabled Facilities Grant. The Government looked at the Disabled Facilties Grant in its 2004 spending review and we called on them to:

  • At the very least abolish the means test for children;
  • Look at abolishing the means test altogether where it applies to severely disabled people;
  • Increase the amount of the grants, so that they go further towards meeting the real costs of adapting your home;
  • Streamline and speed up the application process so families don't have to wait so long for decisions.

The rest of the UK - In Northern Ireland the means test for the grant as it applies to children has been abolished. As the Northern Ireland changes demonstrate, there are powerful arguments for removing the means test in England, Scotland and Wales.

Read the information we submitted in full - Points submitted to Government Ministers