Disabled Facilities Grant Wet Rooms in Liverpool

What is a Disabled Facilities Grant?

The DFG is a mandatory grant run by local councils in England. It exists to help pay for changes to a home that a disabled person needs in order to live there safely and as independently as possible. Typical adaptations include level-access showers and wet rooms, stairlifts, ramps, widened doors and accessible kitchens. There is a maximum grant set by government, and councils may also offer extra discretionary help, such as top-up loans or grants, under their own local policies. Details of the maximum are on our wet room cost guide.

Who can apply?

Broadly, a DFG can be considered for a disabled person who owns their home, rents privately, rents from a council or housing association, or lives with someone who does. The disabled person, or someone on their behalf, applies to the council. A few points are worth knowing:

• Adults are means-tested. The council looks at the income and savings of the disabled person and their partner to work out whether they need to contribute.
• Disabled children are not means-tested. Applications for adaptations for a disabled child are not assessed on parents’ income.
• Tenants need landlord consent. If you rent, your landlord has to agree to the work. Council and housing association tenants may find that their landlord has its own adaptations route.
• The work must be necessary and appropriate. It has to meet the person’s assessed needs, and it must be reasonable and practicable for the property.

How does the DFG process usually work?

Every council runs things slightly differently, but the steps usually follow this pattern:

1. Contact the council. You, a family member or a professional contacts the council’s adult social care, children’s services or housing adaptations team and asks for an assessment.
2. Occupational therapist assessment. An OT visits to see how the person manages at home and recommends adaptations, such as a level-access shower with a seat and rails.
3. Means test (adults). The council checks finances to see whether the person needs to make a contribution.
4. Design and quotes. Depending on the council, it may arrange the design and contractor itself, or ask you to get quotes for the recommended work.
5. Formal application and approval. A full application goes in with the plans and quotes. The council then decides and confirms approval in writing.
6. Work is carried out. Once approved, the adaptation is installed to the agreed specification.
7. Inspection and payment. The council checks the work and pays the grant, often directly to the contractor.

Timescales vary a lot between councils and cases. Waiting lists for OT assessments, the complexity of the job and the paperwork all play a part. If someone’s situation is urgent, tell the council when you first contact them.

Which council handles a DFG in Merseyside?

You apply to the council for the area where the disabled person lives:

• Liverpool City CouncilCovers areas such as Allerton, Woolton, Childwall, Aigburth, Mossley Hill, West Derby and Wavertree.
• Sefton CouncilCovers Crosby, Formby, Maghull and Southport.
• Knowsley CouncilCovers Huyton, Prescot and Kirkby.
• St Helens CouncilCovers St Helens and nearby villages.
• Halton CouncilCovers Widnes and Runcorn.
• Wirral CouncilCovers Birkenhead, Wallasey, Heswall and Bebington.

If you live in Southport, Kirkby or Widnes, for example, it is Sefton, Knowsley or Halton respectively that you contact, not Liverpool City Council.

How do we fit around grant work?

Where a grant is involved, the council’s process comes first and we work around it. In practice that means:

• We can work from the occupational therapist’s recommendations, so the wet room matches what has been assessed.
• We can visit, measure and provide a written quote and plan if the council asks you to supply quotes.
• We follow the agreed specification once approved, and talk to you before changing anything, because changes may need council agreement.
• We do not start grant-funded work before you have written approval from the council, as starting early can put funding at risk.

Some families decide not to wait for a grant, or find they are not eligible, and pay for the work themselves. Others pay for extras that the grant does not cover, such as nicer tiles. If you are paying yourself, VAT relief may still apply to some adaptations for a disabled person’s own use, subject to the eligibility rules.

What will the wet room include?

That depends on the OT’s recommendations, but a grant-funded wet room usually includes a level-access floor with a drain, tanking, slip-resistant flooring, a thermostatic shower, a fold-down seat and grab rails, and sometimes a wider door or comfort-height toilet. Our pages on disabled wet rooms and accessible bathrooms explain these features in more detail.

Grant-funded wet rooms in Merseyside homes

We see grant-related enquiries from all kinds of homes: bungalows where a bath is the only barrier to living independently, first-floor bathrooms in inter-war semis where the floor needs a shower former, and terraces where a downstairs bathroom is converted so the person no longer needs the stairs. The technical work is the same as any other job across our wet rooms in Liverpool and Merseyside; the difference is the paperwork and the timing around the council’s approval.

Cost factors

The cost of a DFG wet room depends on the same things as any wet room: room size, floor type and drainage, strip-out, tanking, finishes, accessibility features and electrics. If the cost goes over what the grant covers, the council may discuss options with you, such as discretionary help. Read the cost guide for an explanation of each factor.

When to call us

Call if you have been told a level-access shower is recommended and you need a quote, if the council has asked you to find a contractor, or if you are unsure whether to wait for a grant or go ahead privately. We can explain what the work would involve. For grant eligibility itself, the council is always the place to ask. Find out more about our accessible wet room installers or call 07777 659786.