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Additional government support for the Disabled Facilities Grant will enhance independent living and takes the pressure off other services, writes Andy Chaplin
The devil is always in the detail and the latest Spending Review was no exception. While other announcements grabbed the headlines, funding for Disabled Facilities Grants (DFGs) – used to pay for adaptations to the home – received a substantial increase in funding.
Within the health and social care element of the full Spending Review statement released by the Treasury, the government has committed to make available at least £220m for this capital, means-tested grant via local authorities in 2015/16, representing a 19% rise from the £185m expected to be available in 2014/15.
Of course, there is never enough funding to meet this type of need but we do welcome this near term commitment for the next three years given the current state of public finances.
And why is this significant? It’s further recognition from government of the clear link between housing and the health/wellbeing/care agendas.
Practical support in the home not only enhances independent living, it can bolster quality of life and relieve some of the pressure on an already overstretched NHS.
Home improvement agencies (HIAs) deliver a good proportion of the near 40,000 of DFG-funded home adaptations each year and so can play a central role in delivering on the health and wellbeing as well as sources of trusted impartial advice in their communities throughout England.
Helping people get qualified information which gives them more choices they can act upon will become more and more important and it’s good to see that being acknowledged increasingly in the draft care bill now going through due process in Parliament. HIAs will play a central part in that, working closely with other recognised sources of free advice about housing and care options including for example, Independent Age, Age UK and First Stop.
A growing body of evidence provides a strong economic underpinning for local authorities and local health and wellbeing boards to maintain investment in home adaptations and wider independent living support. Researchers from the School of Health and Related Research at Sheffield University and the Personal Social Services Research Unit at the University of Kent along with Deloitte have both produced cogent reports to this effect in recent months.
Andy Chaplin is director of Foundations, the umbrella body for home improvement agency and handypersons service providers.
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