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Sheffield City Council’s Private Sector Housing Assistance Policy 2020 sets out the types of assistance available to homeowners, private rented tenants, housing association tenants and shared owners to improve their living conditions and enable independent living.
This is a consultation on several amendments we are proposing to the Disabled Facilities Grant (DFG) funded assistance in the Policy.
What is the Private Sector Housing Assistance Policy?
The Council’s Private Sector Housing Assistance Policy (the Policy) sets out the range of financial assistance available to people that live in private housing to improve their living conditions and enable independent living. All local authorities must provide Mandatory Disabled Facilities Grants (DFGs). Mandatory DFGs are available to eligible disabled people of all ages and in all housing tenures, to help pay for adaptations to enable them to live safely and independently at home. The adaptations cover a wide range of measures such as ramps, stair lifts, level access showers and door widening.
The requirement for local authorities to provide Mandatory DFGs is set out in law, and these are the main form of financial assistance for people living in the private sector. However, local authorities have general powers to provide a wide range of discretionary financial assistance for housing renewal, including home adaptations for disabled people. Discretionary means that the Council can choose whether to provide the financial assistance or not. All discretionary forms of assistance are subject to the available budget.
To provide this additional discretionary assistance, local authorities must have a Private Sector Housing Assistance Policy. The Policy sets out the eligibility criteria, conditions and application processes for the various forms of assistance.
Why are we proposing amendments to the Policy?
The current Policy was adopted in January 2020. Since then, there have been several changes which have impacted on the service that we provide:
In March 2022, the Government issued updated guidance on the use of DFG funding, which encourages local authorities to offer a more flexible range of financial assistance to help people to either adapt their home or move to a more suitable home.
The cost of works has increased significantly over recent years, and this is leading to more costly disabled adaptations reducing the available budget for discretionary grants.
DFG funding is now able to be used to help support health and social care services with a wider range of home adaptations. This will help with hospital discharge, prevent people going into hospital in the first place, prevent people from needing to move into care and reduce the need for care packages.
Sheffield City Council’s Private Sector Housing Assistance Policy 2020 sets out the types of assistance available to homeowners, private rented tenants, housing association tenants and shared owners to improve their living conditions and enable independent living.
This is a consultation on several amendments we are proposing to the Disabled Facilities Grant (DFG) funded assistance in the Policy.
What is the Private Sector Housing Assistance Policy?
The Council’s Private Sector Housing Assistance Policy (the Policy) sets out the range of financial assistance available to people that live in private housing to improve their living conditions and enable independent living. All local authorities must provide Mandatory Disabled Facilities Grants (DFGs). Mandatory DFGs are available to eligible disabled people of all ages and in all housing tenures, to help pay for adaptations to enable them to live safely and independently at home. The adaptations cover a wide range of measures such as ramps, stair lifts, level access showers and door widening.
The requirement for local authorities to provide Mandatory DFGs is set out in law, and these are the main form of financial assistance for people living in the private sector. However, local authorities have general powers to provide a wide range of discretionary financial assistance for housing renewal, including home adaptations for disabled people. Discretionary means that the Council can choose whether to provide the financial assistance or not. All discretionary forms of assistance are subject to the available budget.
To provide this additional discretionary assistance, local authorities must have a Private Sector Housing Assistance Policy. The Policy sets out the eligibility criteria, conditions and application processes for the various forms of assistance.
Why are we proposing amendments to the Policy?
The current Policy was adopted in January 2020. Since then, there have been several changes which have impacted on the service that we provide:
In March 2022, the Government issued updated guidance on the use of DFG funding, which encourages local authorities to offer a more flexible range of financial assistance to help people to either adapt their home or move to a more suitable home.
The cost of works has increased significantly over recent years, and this is leading to more costly disabled adaptations reducing the available budget for discretionary grants.
DFG funding is now able to be used to help support health and social care services with a wider range of home adaptations. This will help with hospital discharge, prevent people going into hospital in the first place, prevent people from needing to move into care and reduce the need for care packages.
The proposed changes to the Policy have been developed to:
Improve access to financial assistance for those in need
Meet the changing demands on the current service
Continue to meet our legal duties to provide mandatory DFGs
Ensure resources are well used
We are keen to hear what you think of our proposed plans to add the provision of DFGs and amend the discretionary grants for disabled people within the Policy. We welcome feedback from all residents, partners, the health service and voluntary organisations on the Policy.
This survey is not directly linked to individual adaptations for residents currently undergoing or waiting for a home adaptation.
Your feedback is important to ensure we provide financial assistance that meets the needs of disabled people to help keep people safe and independent in their own homes, while meeting our Mandatory DFG duties.
Please take 5 minutes to complete this survey. It is open until the 6th November 2024. A summary of the proposed changes, frequently asked questions and the full amended draft Policy are available to read on this page.
Data Protection
The survey will be carried out in line with the 2018 Data Protection Act and 2018 GDPR legislation that sets out how your information can be used and helps make sure it is kept safe.
We do not ask for any personally identifiable information such as your name or contact details, so your feedback will be anonymous. However, we do ask for information about specific characteristics that people may have such as ethnicity or disability.
Once the consultation is completed and the feedback has been analysed, all personal data collected will be deleted.
