Minister announces
2009-10 Disabled Facilities Grant Local Authority Allocation
COMMUNITIES AND LOCAL
GOVERNMENT News Release (306) issued by COI News Distribution
Service. 10 December 2008
Housing Minister
Baroness Andrews today announced how much funding each local
authority will get to help disabled and older people stay in their
homes through the Disabled Facilities Grant Programme. The
Government is making £157m available to local authorities in
England for 2009-10 through the programme, with over 230 local
authorities receiving an increase. Baroness Andrews said:
"This funding provides a lifeline to thousands of disabled
and older people across the country, which is why we have
increased the grant again this year.
"Providing something as simple as a ramp can really make
the difference between being able to stay in your home and having
to leave and this is exactly how the Disabled Facilities Grant
helps - it gives people the opportunity to stay in their homes
and communities, near friends and family."
The Disabled Facilities Grant programme has seen successive
increases in funding in recent years increasing from £57million in
1997 to £146million in 2008-09. This funding helps around 37,000
disabled and older people each year to live as comfortably and
independently as possible in their own homes through the provision
of adaptations such as stair lifts and level access showers.
This year the Government also made changes to assist ex- service
personnel with applying for a Disabled Facilities Grant, following
the MOD command paper published in the summer. Amongst the
commitments contained in the paper is that MOD compensation
schemes for the most severely disabled personnel will be exempt
from the Disabled Facilities Grant financial test. These changes
will come into force on the 31 December 2008. Notes to editors
DFG allocations in 2009/10
1. The Government Offices for the Regions allocated the regional
budget using local knowledge of demand and pressures along with
disability needs indicators.
2. The allocations to each local authority can be found in detail
on the CLG website at: http://www.communities.gov.uk/housing/supportandadaptations/housingadaptations/localauthoritydfgallocations/
. Government Offices will be writing out to individual local
authorities with the details in the near future.
3. The Government has substantially increased funding for the DFG
programme as set out in the table below:
Government subsidy for the DFG programme (£million)
1997/98 56 1998/99 59 1999/00 65
2000/01 72 2001/02 87 2002/03 88
2003/04 99 2004/05 101.5 2005/06 103.3
2006/07 121 2007/08 127 2008/09 146
2009/10 157
4. These figures represent the contribution the Government plans
to spend on DFGs during 2009/10. Local Authorities are required to
contribute any expenditure above these allocations from other resources.
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