Thousands of older and disabled people will benefit from extra Government funding for home adaptations, such as ramps, stair lifts and easy-access showers. Communities Minister Baroness Andrews announced the increases in the Disabled Facilities Grant (DFG) as part of a package of measures designed at helping people live independently in their own homes for longer.
The DFG will increase by £25 million for 2008/09, a significant increase of 20%, taking central Government funding up to £146 million. Central government funding for DFG has already doubled since 1997 from £57 million to £121 million this year.
Around 35,000 older and disabled people already receive DFG support every year. Adaptations funded include improved access to homes, such as widened doors, and basic facilities within a home, like a track and hoist.
The Government also announced plans to strengthen Home Improvement Agencies (HIAs), the locally based not-for-profit organisations that help homeowners and tenants renting private housing repair and maintain their homes.
The new programmes Communities and Local Government announced to support HIAs are:
HIAs advise people on improvements and adaptations which they may need to their homes and assist them in applying for local authority grants or loans to carry out the required work. They also help to identify reputable local contractors, helping vulnerable people to avoid 'cowboy' builders. They then oversee the work to ensure that their clients are completely satisfied.
Scotland
A Scottish Government programme, which allows local authorities to fund adaptations to the homes of older people and others with disabilities, to enable them to continue to live independently, is to receive an extra £15 million from Communities Scotland this year.
The extra funding for Private Sector Housing Grant (PSHG), which brings the total to over £82 million this year, will help thousands of older and disabled people who need a grant to carry out adaptations or practical assistance through their local Care and Repair service.
The additional funding will also help local authorities prepare to implement the Housing (Scotland) Act 2006, which gives them powers to make new services - such as specialist advice - available to homeowners who need to repair and improve their homes.
In addition, this funding, and all future PSHG funding will be distributed to authorities on a much simpler, and less bureaucratic, basis. This enhanced funding flexibility will also allow for any unspent PSHG to be held by authorities for use in 2008/09 and 2009/10. This will help authorities by giving them funding certainty, particularly where people apply for funding but the work takes place over an extended period of time.
Communities Minister Baroness Andrews announced £4.9 billion funding for the Supporting People programme over the next three years today. The funding will help over a million vulnerable people each year, including victims of domestic violence, teenage parents, older people and those with mental health problems - enabling them to live independently in their accommodation.
Supporting People is a major part of the Government's drive to tackle social exclusion, deliver social justice and support the third sector in delivering vital services. It supports over 800,000 older people, 40,000 single homeless people, 36,000 people with mental health problems, and 8,000 women at risk of domestic violence at any one time.
Under a major reform to improve the evidence for distributing the funding to councils, incorporating new up-to-date data and population predictions, the allocations are now based upon need rather than legacy, which is both fairer and a better use of public funds.
This first ever three year settlement for Supporting People, along side a radically slimmed down performance framework, which includes two performance indicators for housing support, will provide councils with a much greater level of certainty of funding, greater flexibility on spending and the ability to plan ahead and use money more effectively by entering longer term contracts to provide housing support services that will save money.