Richard has welcomed the announcement that Bedford Borough Council and Central Bedfordshire Council will receive £123,101 and £168,126, respectively, in government funding to help older people and those with disabilities to live safely and independently in their own homes.
The funding is part of £50 million allocated to local authorities by the Department of Health and Social Care and the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, which will be delivered through the Disabled Facilities Grant. Funding is available to homeowners, private renters and those in social housing, and eligible people will be able to apply to their local authority for a grant to adapt their home to better meet their needs.
Since 2010, there have been almost half a million home adaptions, backed by £4.8 billion in funding. The £50 million comes on top of the annual £573 million already provided to local authorities for home improvement services and is the first part of a £102 million investment to be made over two years, which will enable local authorities to provide additional services that are agile, make minor adaptations quickly and support speedier hospital discharge.
Richard Fuller MP said:
Everyone should have high quality, safe, and suitable homes so they can keep living more independently, including people leaving hospital care. This funding provides councils with additional resource to support those in need and builds on the funding already in place.
Providing suitable adaptations to homes, such as wheelchair ramps, handrails, stairlifts or specialist equipment, will mean that when someone is medically fit to be discharged, they will have somewhere safe to be discharged to, freeing up hospital beds for those who need them. As a result, this will help to reduce waiting times, which will be important as the health service approach the winter months, when pressure on the NHS increases. The Disabled Facilities Grant is one of a range of housing support measures that a local authority can use to help enable people to live independently and safely at home. The government also provides guidance to local authorities to help them effectively and efficiently deliver home adaptations and best serve the needs of older and disabled people in their local communities
Further information on how local authorities can effectively and efficiently deliver Disabled Facilities Grant funded adaptations to best serve the needs of local older and disabled people is contained in the Disabled Facilities Grant guidance. In addition, more detail for local areas can be found on the Foundations website. Foundations is the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities funded national body for Disabled Facilities Grants and Home Improvement Agencies – the website includes many case studies from local authorities who are using their home adaptations funding in innovative ways, with strong partnerships between local health, care, and housing partners.
