Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the disabilities facilities grant and the speed of disbursement of the grants to their recipients.

The Housing Grants, Construction and Regeneration Act 1996 requires local authorities to make decisions on Disabled Facilities Grant (DFG) applications within six months of receipt, and adaptations must be completed within 12 months of the DFG approval date.

On 28 March this year the Government published new guidance for local authorities in England on effective delivery of the grant. This includes information on how local authorities can speed up DFG delivery. A link to the guidance is available on GOV.UK here.

Additionally, Government provides funding to Foundations, the national body for DFGs and home improvement agencies, to promote best practice in the delivery of home adaptations. Foundations analyse annual voluntary data returns from local authorities in England on their DFG delivery, including unaudited data on DFG approval and completion times. Their most recent report for 2020-21 can be found here. This indicates an average DFG delivery time of 89 days from approval to completion.