Elderly and disabled people could lose funding for vital home adaptations

Elderly and disabled people living in RBWM and Buckinghamshire could face greater challenges if the Government reduces funding for home adaptations – which it might.

The Government is considering a new formula for calculating the Disabled Facilities Grant (DFG). This funds adaptations to people’s homes to help them live independently for longer, and reduce the need for care services.

It can also be used to make lives easier for family members who care for loved ones.

A funding application from a householder could include, for example, adapting a bathroom to remove a bath and providing a level access shower with a seat instead.

A report from Buckinghamshire Council warns that this national review of the funding formula may result in a smaller allocation for Bucks in future.

For the same reasons, this is a risk to RBWM residents too.

What will happen?

If a council’s funding goes down, it may only be able to offer the mandatory grant and nothing more (no 'top-ups'). This goes up to £30,000 per application.

That could affect how able the council is to take on larger projects – and could lead to delays or scaled-back adaptations for some households.

“Building costs have risen sharply in recent years and the complexity of need (particularly for disabled children’s adaptations) has grown,” wrote Bucks council.

“[As such] £30,000 is often inadequate to fully meet complex needs.”

Nationally, research has been saying the same thing for a while: DFG demand is rising at the same time as building costs are increasing, and more cases are large, complex adaptations.

For as long as demand for DFG remains high, Bucks council thinks it ‘likely’ that a reduction in funding will ‘leave the needs of disabled people unmet.’

In real terms, some households simply will not be able to afford the adaptations they need for a fully suitable home.

This could lead to disabled people relying more on carers because basic things such as getting into the bath are less safe.

Why might the funding change?

The allocation for Bucks and RBWM might fall if the Government’s formula puts more weight on factors like deprivation, poor housing conditions, or areas where people have more serious health problems.

Less affluent areas elsewhere might get a bigger share while local authority areas such as RBWM and Bucks could see their share shrink.

This is a problem for those living in older properties, where adaptations may be both more complex and more necessary.

Another complicating factor is an ageing population. The average age of residents in both RBWM and Bucks is above the national average.

In Bucks, the number of residents aged 50 and over has increased to 39 per cent of the population (according to 2021 figures).

Meanwhile, the number of households grew by 10 per cent - and about 12 per cent of these consist of a single person aged 66 and over (that's about 66,000 people).

In the next 20 years, the total population of Bucks is projected to increase by more than 26,000 people.

Taken all together, that's more households likely in need of this grant and these kinds of support, adding pressure to an already overstretched system.

Judging by other data sets in recent years, RBWM shows similar population growth and demographics - and thus, the same problems. Both local authority areas have higher life expectancy than the England average.

A consultation on the DFG funding formula closed in September and the Government is now analysing responses before deciding what to do next.