Grants and assistance available

What adaptations could the grant cover?

• installing a stair lift

• modifying a bathroom

• providing ramps

• making doorways wider

• making sleeping and toilet facilities accessible

and much more...

Who is eligible and how to apply

You can apply for a mandatory Disabled Facilities Grant if you are a private owner occupier, private tenant or housing association tenant who has had an assessment by an Occupational Therapist which suggested adaptations to your home are required for your needs. Please enquire about a grant with our Housing team if you are a council tenant. Contact the private sector housing team for further information - email dfg@southkesteven.gov.uk 

Request an assessment

You can arrange this with Lincolnshire County Council's Social Services team.

Contact the Adult Social Care team on 01522 782155 or the Children with Disabilities team on 01522 782111. 

After you have been assessed, if the Occupational Therapist considers you may be eligible, they will forward us a recommendation based on your needs. The works must be necessary and appropriate to meet the needs of the disabled occupant and it must be reasonable and practicable to carry out the work. 

The Private Sector Housing Team will then contact you to collect some initial financial information and carry out a means test. This is used to assess the level of contribution the disabled person would have to make towards the cost of the works. If your application proceeds, plans will be drawn up (if applicable) for approval by the Occupational Therapist prior to approval of a grant.

The grant pays for essential adaptations identified in the Occupational Therapist assessment as 'necessary and appropriate' and according to our standard specification. If you wish to have work undertaken higher than our specification you may do so but you would need to pay any additional cost yourself.

If you start your work before you have submitted a full application and before you have been informed about the decision, you will need to be prepared to pay for all the associated cost yourself.  We are not able to give a grant retrospectively once the work has started.

The maximum mandatory grant funding available is £30,000. The actual amount of grant funding awarded is determined only by the adaptations that are deemed necessary and appropriate by the Occupational Therapist. i.e. when we determine the grant where adaptations cost less than £30,000 no  further grant money can be made available for any other works on the property. The grant is subject to means-testing and the amount awarded will depend on your own financial circumstances, you may need to pay part or all of the cost of the work.

Although we pay for whole or part of the work, the contractual relationship is between you and the contractor(s). We will not undertake any additional costs associated with any disputes between you and the contractor(s).

In certain cases a local land charge of up to £10,000 can be placed on the property which must be repaid if the property is sold or disposed of within 10 years.

If within five years you do not need the adaptation for whatever reason, you or your representatives are obliged to inform us; this is because we may wish to remove the equipment if practical (e.g. stair-lift) for it to benefit another household.

You may be able to get financial help from the government to buy a home.

• Shared Ownership is aimed at people who can't afford to buy a property on the open market and is when individuals buy a share in a home and pay a subsidised rent on the share that they do not own to a registered provider, usually a housing association.

Please click here for more information.

The Rent Deposit Scheme is one of the ways in which South Kesteven District Council help homeless and vulnerable households into privately rented accommodation.

Are you eligible?

In order to be considered for this scheme, you must have an active homelessness application with us and be currently working with a housing options officer. Speak to your allocated officer for more details about the scheme

How does it work?

The scheme is made up of two parts - a rent in advance loan and a deposit guarantee agreement (bond).  On occasion, the Council may be able to provide a deposit advance loan, instead of a paper bond. The rent in advance loan is paid directly to your new landlord to cover the cost of the first month's rent. You will need to repay the Council and affordable repayments will be arranged for this.

The bond is a written agreement that the council makes with your landlord, to reimburse them for any damage (up to an agreed amount) caused to the property by your household or your visitors during your tenancy. If the council has to make any payments, you will need to pay the council back.

How do I apply?

In order to be considered for this scheme, you must have an active homelessness application with us and be currently working with a housing options officer. Speak to your allocated officer for more details about the scheme

Discretionary funding

Discretionary Housing Financial Assistance (DHFA) is subject to the availability, the funding assistance we be considered on a case-by-case basis up to the value of £15,000.

Assistance over this value maybe awarded in accordance with the Councils agreed panel approach.

Where the Council provides Discretionary Housing Financial Assistance of more than £1,000 and the works are considered likely to increase the property, a Local Land Charge will be registered to recover the funding when the property is sold or otherwise transferred. However, where the DHFA is linked to the top up Mandatory Disabled Facility Grand the full value of the DHFA will be registered and recoverable as a Local Land Charge.

In some cases, a mandatory grant can also be combined with the discretionary grant to cover some or all the works.

The policy covering discretionary grants can be found here.