Getting in touch If you'd like to read our service standards, please call or email us on the details above. Alternatively, they're available online on www.salford.gov.uk by following Home > Living > Housing > Housing performance & quality > Customer service charter > Specialist Housing standards. If you would like more information, you can contact us by Telephone: 0161 607 1415 Email: independentliving@salford.gov.uk Write to us at: Specialist Housing Services Burrows House, 10 Priestley Road Wardley Industrial Estate Worsley M28 2LY Building Independence Disabled Facilities Grant Adapting your home A step by step guide for adults and children with disabilities. If you require a copy of this publication in large print, Braille or audio tape or cd, please contact marketing and communications on 0161 604 7705. March 2008
Contents Introduction...3 What is a Disabled Facilities Grant (DFG)?...3 DFG options...4 STEP ONE - Assessment of your need...5 STEP TWO The DFG application...6/7 STEP THREE Grant approval...8 STEP FOUR Work in progress...9 STEP FIVE Payment of the grant...10 Future maintenance of the adaptation...10 Comments, compliments and complaints...11 Useful contacts...11 Getting in touch...12 Introduction Welcome to our customer information booklet. We have a range of services to help disabled people live more independently and remain in their own homes. If you are disabled, or someone living with you is disabled, a Disabled Facilities Grant (DFG) may help pay towards your home to be adapted. This leaflet gives you some general information about the grant process and describes the main steps involved when you apply for a DFG in Salford. It also provides you with space to record the progress of your grant application. What is a Disabled Facilities Grant? A Disabled Facilities Grant is a local council grant to help towards the cost of adapting your home to enable you to continue to live there. A grant is paid when the council considers that changes are necessary to meet your needs - and is happy that the work is reasonable and practical. Grants for a range of work are mandatory. This means that the city council must offer you a grant if you qualify for it. However these grants are means tested and you should not assume that you will automatically be offered one. The mandatory amount of grant that a council is required to pay against the cost of eligible works is 30,000 per application in England - less any assessed contribution from you. If the cost of the eligible works is more, the council can use discretionary powers to increase the amount. If you are a Salix Homes tenant, your adaptation will be funded in a different way so please contact us on 0161 607 1415. 2 3
DFG options You may decide to apply for a DFG and arrange the adaptation yourself. However if you are unfamiliar with building contracts and the management of building work we will be happy to take responsibility for the work and appoint a contractor. There is a fee for this service but the grant will cover this. The service we offer will include: Arrange for a Customer Liaison Officer to visit you and help you to fill out the grant application forms Provide you with a caseworker who will keep you informed throughout the process Arrange for a building surveyor to visit you to offer advice about how to arrange the adaptation Obtain quotes for the necessary work from reputable and registered contractors Supervise the work throughout the duration of the contract Post inspect the work to ensure it is completed to a good standard and meets the Occupational Therapist s recommendation The builder will only be paid once you are satisfied with the work STEP ONE Assessment of your need As part of the grant process, an Occupational Therapist must assess your needs. This is done at an early stage as there may be other options for you. The Occupational Therapist will discuss these with you and make recommendations about the best way to meet your needs. If you require an assessment you need to contact the Occupational Therapy Team on 0161 607 1499. Once the assessment is complete and if a DFG appears to be relevant for you the Occupational Therapist will make a recommendation to their team manager about the best way to meet your needs. If your need for an adaptation is agreed, your case will be passed to Specialist Housing Services where the DFG is administered. You will be contacted by a Customer Liaison Officer within 5 days of them receiving the Occupational Therapist s recommendation. They will arrange a visit to your home to complete the grant application form. For some people, adapting their current home may not be appropriate due to size, type or location. It may be that you need to move closer to relatives or carers in order to receive support. In such situations rehousing may be the solution. The service is co-located within Salford s Disability Service and officers work closely with the Occupational Therapist to identify the most appropriate property for your needs and what adaptations the property will require. Sometimes the wait for a suitable adapted property can be long, which can depend on the area you want to live in. We will advise you of likely waiting times and keep you informed throughout the process. Date assessment requested Date of assessment Date assessment completed Name of Occupational Therapist 1 4 5
STEP TWO The DFG Application The process can be complex and timescales often depend how quickly you provide the information needed. The Customer Liaison Officer (CLO) will let you know the information needed in order to proceed with your application. Please let us know as quickly as possible if you are having difficulty providing the information as we may be able to help. If all the information is readily available, we aim to obtain grant approval within four months for schemes costing less than 6,000 and five months for schemes costing 6,000 or more. For large schemes which need planning permission, it can take longer. Work can only start once the grant approval letter has been received. Customer Liaison Officer Contact Number The Test of Financial Resources (Means Test) 2 The DFG is a contributory grant which means that, depending on your financial situation, you may be asked to contribute towards the cost of the adaptation. The test is based on income and not on the cost of the adaptation so it s important you understand your contribution will be the same no matter the cost or size of the scheme. We let you know right at the start if you re eligible for grant assistance so you can make an informed choice whether or not to pursue an application. You will need to provide details such as proof of income and savings so we can tell you how much, if anything, you will be asked to pay. Having this information to hand will save time later on in the process. If you can t afford to pay, our officers can discuss various options with you such as taking out a loan, or equity release schemes. If you're a parent or guardian of a disabled young person living with you who is under the age of 19, you DO NOT need to go through the means test. Date all information passed to the Specialist Housing Services team CLO signed as information received Adaptation Plan The surveyor will visit and prepare a schedule of works which details what works need to be completed. The surveyor works with the Occupational Therapist and yourself to ensure the adaptation meets your specific requirements. This can then be used for plans to be drawn up and building contractors to submit estimates. In the more complex cases such as building an extension, formal plans will be required, usually supported with planning permission. We use a list of registered contractors which have all been through a thorough vetting process to make sure they meet our high standards in terms of customer care and consistency of service. They have many years experience working on this type of contract. If you decide to choose a contractor who is not on the list of registered contractors, you will have the responsibility to pay the contractor and the grant will only be released to you once the work is completed. This may mean that you need to consider how to finance any interim payments the contractor may require when undertaking large complex works. Surveyors name Date of surveyor s visit Contractor Details 6 7
STEP THREE Grant Approval The law states that the Council must give you a decision on your grant application within six months of receiving a completed grant application (ensuring all application papers are fully completed and any supporting documents are provided including contractor quotes). However we try to reach a decision much faster than this usually within six weeks. Please note that if you commence works before receiving the formal offer of the grant you will be responsible for the cost of that work. The grant offer is valid for 12 months so work must be completed within this timescale. If you don t think you can meet this timescale you must contact us immediately. Grant approval date 3 4 STEP FOUR Work in Progress We will work with you and act as a liaison between you and the contractor. We will work with the contractor to ensure that there is a smooth flow of work and that we are clear about contractor availability and associated timescales. How long it takes depends on how busy the contactor is and how easy or complex the work is. We cannot accurately predict how long each individual job will take. The chart below gives you an estimated time for how long the contactor will be on site once work has started. Adaptation Type Stair Lift Ramp Level Access Shower Vertical Lift Traditional Brick Built Extension Modular Built Extension Time on site 1 day 1 week 10 working days 2 working days 16 weeks 3 weeks If you have chosen to arrange the adaptation yourself the timescales will be determined by you and the contractor. You will need to let the service know when work is due to start as the surveying team will need to check the work. We will regularly check progress and deal with any problems that arise but you should notify the surveyor immediately if you are unhappy with any aspect of the contractors work. Date contractor is due to begin work at your home 8 9
STEP FIVE Payment of the Grant When work is finished the surveyor will inspect the completed adaptation and check that you are satisfied with the work payment will only be made to the contractor once you are satisfied and have signed the work off. You must pay the builder any contribution that you have to make towards the cost (as identified during the means test). If you have not used the full service offered by the Specialist Housing Services team and have opted to arrange the adaptation yourself then you must sign the contractors invoice to say that you are happy with the work and then send the invoice to the surveyor. The grant will then be paid, less any fees payable to the Council as shown on the grant approval, and you must pay the balance to the contractor. Date of post inspection with surveyor and contractor Customer sign off:- Date Signature 5 Future maintenance of the adaptation When any guarantee for the work has expired you will be responsible for the upkeep of the adaptation. In certain cases you can sign a handover agreement which passes ownership of the adaptation to the Council. In return for this the Council takes on the responsibility for ensuring that the adaptation is properly serviced and maintained for as long as it is required. This applies mainly to lifting equipment, e.g. stair lifts, step lifts, vertical lifts and specialist toilets and bathing equipment. This equipment can normally be re-sited if there is no further need for it at the original address. Compliments, Comments and Complaints We would really welcome your views, either good or not so good, on the service we provide. Your comments are important to us as they help us to improve the service we offer. We like to think that you are satisfied with the service you receive and feel able to tell us. We realise that this will not always be so, and that on occasions you may be unhappy with an aspect of the process. We need to know about those occasions. In the first instance it is better to speak to a member of the team who are directly involved and explain to them your difficulty or concern so that we can address them. If you do not feel able to do this or are unhappy with any response that we provide, you can use the complaints process. All complaints will be acknowledged within 2 days and you will receive a full response to your complaint within 10 working days. We are continually striving to improve our services and use complaints and comments as a tool for improvement and to influence and shape the service for the future. Useful Contacts Community Occupational Therapy 0161 607 1499 Home Improvement Agency 0161 793 2896 Salford Home Search 0161 909 6514 Care on Call 0161 737 3822 Sheltered Housing 0161 909 6514 Age Concern 0161 788 7300 Helping Hands 0161 793 9419 Adult Social Care Salford East 0161 831 7484 minicom 0161 831 9532 Salford West 0161 603 4400 minicom 0161 603 4405 10 11