Can I get a grant for different adaptations?

If you do not want the adaptations that we are offering you a grant for, you may be able to use your Disabled Facilities Grant to put towards different adaptations. We call this 'off-setting costs'. This means that you may get a grant for the amount that the Council’s proposed scheme would have cost, which you can then use towards the adaptations that you want. You will then need to pay any difference in cost as well as any payment towards your adaptations that you have been assessed for.

If you would like some different adaptations and off-set costs for these, you must discuss this with the Housing Technical Officer and Occupational Therapist. You will need to show that the adaptations that you want will meet your disability needs and that there will be enough space left for the other members of your family. For example if you have been offered a stair-lift (to get you to a bedroom) and a shower (to enable you to wash), and you would like to build an extension instead, the plans must show a bedroom, toilet and shower.

The grant will only be paid if you carry out the scheme which has been approved by the Adaptations Team and, if the work has been completed within the 12 month timescale. If you change the plans without approval from the Adaptations Team you will not get any financial assistance towards the cost of the works!

If you chose to off-set costs you cannot use the Adaptations Agency to carry out the work which means that you will have to arrange everything yourself. We also cannot reimburse you anything for any costs you might incur looking into doing your preferred scheme such as plans, and we cannot support a planning application to the planning department where there is an internal scheme of adaptations which would meet the needs.