How do I apply for equipment or an adaptation to my home?
People with more complex needs may benefit from an assessment from a physiotherapist or an occupational therapist to help them find out what they need.
All requests for either equipment or an adaptation must start with an assessment of your needs.
You may be offered an assessment by your GP or social worker or you can request an assessment from us. Following your assessment, you may be eligible for support from us.
We will give you more information about this during your care assessment.
Contact us to request an assessment
What happens after my assessment?
If your needs can be met with a simple item of equipment or minor adaptation, your assessor will arrange for this to be provided via the council's equipment provider.
If your home needs to be adapted the occupational therapist will draw up a detailed recommendation. The next part of the process for adaptations will vary depending on whether you are:
- an owner-occupier or private tenant
- a council tenant
- a housing association tenant.
Owner occupiers or private tenants
What happens after my occupational therapy assessment?
If you have been assessed as requiring adaptations to your home, the occupational therapist, with your agreement, will send details of the work recommended and the allocated priority to the Grants and Adaptations team.
What happens when the Grants and Adaptations team receive my details?
They will confirm they have received your details and provide you with information about the next steps.
Will I have to pay for the adaptation?
Owner occupiers, private tenants and some housing association tenants may need to contribute to or pay for the adaptation.
The Grants and Adaptations team will arrange for a financial means test to be carried out. There is no means test for an adaptation for a person under 18 years of age.
Depending on the outcome of the assessment, you may or may not have to contribute. Discretionary funding may be available for elderly people with no savings to pay contribution.
Disabled Facilities Grant
You will be required to pay unless you are entitled to apply for a Disabled Facilities Grant. This grant is means tested. If you are in receipt of a means tested benefit it is likely that you will have little or nothing to pay yourself. If you are not receiving any benefits you may still have little or nothing to pay, but you will need to provide more financial information.
The grant covers the cost of the work and any fees such as professional fees, planning and building control fees.
The maximum amount of grant is £30,000 per application - less any assessed contribution from you. If the cost of the eligible works is more, the council can use discretionary powers to increase the amount.
Who is eligible for a Disabled Facilities Grant?
You can apply for a Disabled Facilities Grant if you, or someone living in your property, are disabled and:
- you, or the person on whose behalf you are applying, are either the owner or tenant (including licensees) of the property
- you can certify that you, or the person on whose behalf you are applying, intend to occupy the property as your or their only or main residence throughout the grant period - currently five years.
A landlord may apply on behalf of a disabled tenant.
How long will it take to get my adaptation?
There are set targets for the average amount of time that your adaptation should take. This will depend on your priority. Once the private housing service receives the details of the adaptation you need, we aim to start work on urgent cases within 11 weeks. For cases with a high priority, we aim to start the work within 22 weeks and for cases with a standard priority within 42 weeks.
The option of moving home
In some instances where an adaptation is not possible, moving home may be more suitable option. If you feel that moving home may meet your needs, please contact your grants officer to explore this option.
Who can I contact if I have questions whilst I am waiting for my adaptation?
You will have received a letter after your assessment which will have the name and contact details of the person you need to contact.
What if my needs change whilst I am waiting?
If your needs change significantly whilst you are waiting for work to start on your adaptation, then you should contact your occupational therapist to discuss the situation.
If appropriate they will liaise directly with the social work team to arrange for an assessment or reassessment of your needs. This will not automatically result in a change in priority you have been given for your adaptation.
Council tenants
What happens after my occupational therapy assessment?
If you have been assessed as needing adaptations to your home by the occupational therapist, we will make a proposal for the works needed and, with your agreement, will give this to the surveyor or technical officer within the grants and adaptation team.
What happens when the technical officer receives my details?
The surveyor or technical officer will visit your home to ensure what is proposed is feasible.
They will then draw up a schedule of works, have them agreed by the occupational therapist and get quotes from contractors to complete the work.
Once the quotes have been received the Grants and Adaptations team will need to check asbestos is not present in the property before works can begin. If there is no asbestos in the property, a date for the works to begin will be decided between you, the contractor and the occupational therapist.
Will I have to pay for the adaptation?
Council tenants do not need to pay.
How long will it take to get my adaptation?
There are set targets for the average amount of time that your adaptation should take. This will depend on your priority. Once the surveyor or technical officer receives the details of the adaptation you need, we aim to start work on urgent cases within 11 weeks. For cases with a high priority we aim to start the work within 22 weeks and for cases with a standard priority within 42 weeks. This does not mean your case will take this amount of time. We will do our utmost to ensure the work is carried out as soon as possible.
The option of moving home
In some instances where an adaptation is not possible, moving home may be a more suitable option. If you feel that moving home may meet your needs, then please contact your housing officer to discuss the choices available to you.
Under the tenant incentive scheme, you may be eligible for a one-off payment if you move to a smaller home from a family sized property. If you are interested in this scheme, please contact the home buy service on 020 8753 6464.
If it is decided that rehousing is the best option, then once this has been agreed by the rehousing opportunities unit you will need to bid for an advertised property through the Locata choice based lettings scheme.
If the new property you are allocated via the choice based letting scheme needs adaptations, we cannot guarantee that the adaptations will be undertaken prior to moving. The normal adaptations process for your agreed priority and for that type of tenancy would apply.
Who can I contact if I have questions whilst I am waiting for my adaptation?
You will have received a letter after your assessment which will have the name and contact details of the person you need to contact.
What if my needs change whilst I am waiting?
If your needs change significantly whilst you are waiting for work to start on your adaptation, then you should contact occupational therapist in CR&R duty to discuss the situation.
If appropriate they will liaise directly with the social work team to arrange for an assessment or reassessment of your needs.
Once the quotes have been received by the Grants and Adaptations team the team will issue the works to the contractor liaising with you and the occupational therapist regarding when the works are to begin.
Housing association tenants
What happens after my occupational therapy assessment?
If you would benefit from your home being adapted, then the occupational therapists will send details of the works that they recommend to your housing association.
What happens when the housing association receives my details?
Each housing association has its own arrangements; however, the majority will cover the costs of any adaptation under £1,000 and look at applying on their tenant's behalf for a disabled facilities grant. Please see the previous section for information regarding disabled facilities grants.
The option of moving home
In some instances where an adaptation is not possible, moving home may be more suitable option. If you feel that moving home may meet your needs, please contact your housing officer to explore this option.
Who can I contact if I have questions whilst I am waiting for my adaptation?
You will have received a letter after your assessment which will have the name and contact details of the person you need to contact.
What if my needs change whilst I am waiting?
If your needs change significantly whilst you are waiting for work to start on your adaptation, then you should contact your occupational therapist in the CR&R team to discuss the situation.
If appropriate they will liaise directly with the social work team to arrange for an assessment or reassessment of your needs. This will not automatically result in a change in priority you have been given for your adaptation.
Will I automatically be eligible for equipment or an adaptation?
You will need to meet certain eligibility criteria. If you are an adult, you will need to have an assessment that meets the Care Act eligibility regulations.
For major adaptations, the works must be necessary and appropriate to meet your needs.
It is also important that the adaptations would be practical and feasible in terms of the actual property.
In some instances where an adaptation is not possible, moving home may be a more suitable option.
The priority system for home equipment
The occupational therapist will allocate a priority based on your need using the following system.
Urgent priority:
- when an adaptation is incorrect, equipment is required to prevent admission to hospital or residential care or
- to enable discharge from hospital or residential care
- where formal care could be withdrawn without specialist equipment; informal care would break down without specialist equipment or long-term need for adaptations.
From contact with occupational therapy service through to completion of works our target is 13 weeks.
High priority:
- where a resident will become independent of care needs
- where a care package currently required will be reduced once the specialist equipment input or adaptation has been completed
- where there is significant risk of injury or risk of deterioration if the specialist equipment is not provided.
From contact with occupational therapy service through to completion of works our target is 30 weeks.
Standard priority:
For all others.
From contact with occupational therapy service through to completion of works our target is 52 weeks.
We appreciate that you will want your needs met as soon as possible. However, we hope that you will understand that we are not able to respond immediately to everyone on an urgent basis.
What if I am not satisfied with the service?
If you are unhappy with the service, you should tell your occupational therapist or team manager in the first instance.
If you are still dissatisfied, you should contact our customer care and complaints service.
Where you can buy equipment
The following websites are all good resources but we can't guarantee the validity of the information and none of the products being sold have been tested by us.