Guide to Disabled Facilities Grant means testing
Disabled Facilities Grants (DFGs) are means-tested, except for applications for children or young people under the age of 19 years for whom child benefit is paid. Even where the application is not for such a child/young person, if the “relevant person” (the person who needs the adaptation) is in receipt of any of the following then they would be “passported” through the means-test and full grant funding up to the maximum of £30,000 would be available without having to pay a contribution.
- Working Tax or Child Tax Credits (calculated on earnings of less than £15,050 per annum)
- Universal Credit
- Housing Benefit
- Income Support
- Income-based Job Seekers Allowance
- Income based Employment Support Allowance (Not Contribution based)
- Guarantee Pension Credit
In all other cases the relevant person would need to be means-tested to determine what contribution (if any) needs to be made by the client towards the cost of works. The level of contribution is calculated by a test of resources set out in legislation and considers the income, savings and assets of the relevant person and any partner they may have living with them. Personal allowances, premiums and disregards are also applied, which vary depending on circumstances.
The government have set a threshold, for how much they believe a person/s should be able to live on. This takes into consideration a number of factors including the person’s age, disabilities, dependants etc. Savings are converted into “Tariff Income” and added to other income and compared to this the threshold. If the total weekly income is below the threshold then the applicant would be entitled to a full grant. If the income is above the threshold then a client contribution would be required towards the cost of the adaptation. The level of contribution will increase as the amount of income above the threshold increases.
The test of resources calculation is explained in more detail:
The first £6000 of savings is disregarded and the remaining funds, if any, are divided by 250/500 (depending on circumstance), to form the “tariff income”. This is then added to the weekly income from other sources such as salary, pensions etc.
Disposable income is then calculated as follows:
Regular weekly income +Tariff Income, if any, minus personal allowances and premiums minus Housing Allowance.
Disposable income, is the sum that is left over after all allowances and disregards have been taken into account.
A complicated calculation then takes place regarding the disposable income.
There are different multipliers depending on whether the applicant is an
Owner (Higher amount*) or Tenant (Lower amount**). The applicant is the person making the application, which may differ from the “relevant person”.
The first £47.95 x £18.85*/£11.04** = £903.86*/£529.37**
£47.95 x £37.69*/£22.09** = £1807.24*/£1059.22**
£95.90 x £150.77*/£88.34** = £14458.84*/£8471.81**
£191.81 x £376.93*/£220.86** = £?
Example:
Disposable income has been calculated as £150.00 for a tenant
£47.95 x £11.04 = £529.37
£47.95 x £22.09 = +£1059.22
£54.10 x £88.34 = +£4779.19
= £6367.78 (Contribution)
The final figure £6367.78 is the contribution which the relevant person needs to pay in this example towards any work carried out. Whilst the “assessed” contribution towards the costs remains the same regardless of what works are required it should be noted that the client would be expected to fund any costs that exceed the maximum grant. The maximum grant is £30,000 minus the assessed contribution.
If the contribution is calculated to be over the costs of works, then unfortunately you would not be entitled to grant funding but we can advise you on other options you may wish to take.