Considering applying for a Disabled Facilities Grant??

niamhtra66

Just want to see what you guys think before i go ahead with an application for a disabled facilities grant, I'm not sure if we would be eligible.

Our 7 1/2 year old DS was diagnosed with autism and severe attachment disorder at christmas 09 for which he receives hrc and lrm, i claim for ca.
The main problems we have at home (just a few, there are lots) are his sleeping habits, at the moment he shares a room with his 12 year old brother who likes t go to bed early and needs a good nights sleep. Our Ds goes to bed at 7.30 pm but only sleeps an hour or two during the night, he wets and soils on average 3 times during the night which means i have to strip the bed, new bedding put on, bath for my ds then clean the bath after him which can take me up to an hour each time. This of course wakes my other son up and sometimes my other 2 children as well,
A few years ago we had a large bedroom built and above this instead of the usual roof trusses we had the loft built so that we could convert it into a bedroom at a later date, it has a window and electric already in there.

My question is, would we be eligible for a grant to turn this loft into a room with en suite therefore giving our ds a room of his own with no distraction ( he has to sleep within a sleeping bag as he doesn't like posters, pictures,lights etc) and we would have somewhere to clean him without disturbing the whole house.
Has any body had one of these grants and how easy / difficult was the whole process?
Many thank for any advice in advise.

hilstep2000

I have had two grants for an inside and outside stair lift. The forms are fairly easy, they need financial details, and then work out if you have to contribute. I had to pay nothing for either of mine. My last grant though was for £7000, anything above £5000 and you have to stay in the house for ten years, otherwise if you move the grant has to be paid back. I found it very good,. I got the estimates, then passed them on to the council. They organised all the work, and it was done realky quickly. I was initially referred by my OT though, so maybe you need an OT or Social Worker to help first. Contact your local Social Services for advice. Good luck!

littleredcorvette

hilstep2000 wrote: »

The forms are fairly easy, they need financial details, and then work out if you have to contribute.

There is no means testing for families of disabled children under 19.
I'm currently looking into the process for my son and have found the following info:

Adapting Your Home:
http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/DisabledPeople/HomeAndHousingOptions/YourHome/DG_4000634

DFG - Introduction:
http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/DisabledPeople/HomeAndHousingOptions/YourHome/DG_4000642

DFG - How to apply:
http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/DisabledPeople/HomeAndHousingOptions/YourHome/DG_10018283

Hope that helps

emporer

Be warned with anything involved with a DFG that it takes a long time to sort out, we are nearly 2.5 years into ours and have not seen one bit of work yet, in fairness ours is a large downstairs extension (bedroom and bathroom) and with all the extra's it comes in at pretty much the max £30k but its been a right pain to sort out, there always seems to be too many people from various different council dpts and OT's etc arguing with each other about whats needed and whats cost efficient, hopefully ours will get the final approval in the next few weeks but if you are needing something large like ours then its a long haul journey, it also doesnt help that the council in our area changed its rules recently which means 3 times as much work for everyone else involved now!

Limana68

HI there
We had a dfg for my mum who lives with us-we had a downstairs loo turned into a wetroom for her. That was 3 yrs ago, and it was all done within 6 mths!
Now my hubby is disabled, we have recently applied for another grant for an extension, to incorporate another bedroom. It does seem to take forever, and we are hoping for a result soon!
Send an e mail to your Social Servs and someone should get in touch and do a visit and assess you.
From what I have read on here it all seems to depend on your own Social Servs, some are better and quicker than others.
Good luck and keep us updated!
Li

niamhtra66

Thanks for the advise, i've spoken to my ds social worker today and she is going to come out and do an assessment, hope it goes well.
we did have another social worker do a core assessment over 3 months ago, this was supposed to be for direct payments and she still hasn't typed it up so we wont be holding our breaths for this one. Thanks again.