Do you live in Social housing or are you private renting and your disabled childs needs are now creating problems for you?
Have you got equipment bursting out of your front door and could you do with a larger property?
Do you have 2 children sharing a room although they need a room to themselves because of special needs?

Read a useful guide to assist you:

Getting a social services assessment
Children with disabilities have a right to have their needs assessed by social services. This is the necessary first stage in getting other help such as equipment and modifications to the home.

Getting the best out of the assessment
Assessment is the process by which a person's needs are worked out. Parents must make sure that the assessment is thorough and accurate. Useful advice to a parent might include:

Provide all of the information they can, promptly and to any deadlines. Only ever provide copies and keep originals safe.
Keep records like a diary, notes of important telephone conversations and copies of all letters sent and received.

Be helpful and constructive, both with professionals and junior staff.

Remember their own needs and the needs of other children.
The professionals may overlook these.
Parents should be honest about their ability to cope.
Get the best out of meetings and case conferences
If their child would benefit from physical aids and home modifications, they may need an assessment from an occupational therapist.
Parents can ask social services to arrange this.
Getting the best out of meetings and case conferences

Parents may be unfamiliar with these situations, and may need practical advice:

Prepare what they want to say beforehand.
List the most urgent and important things first.
Put aside time for the meeting.
Take time off work and make arrangements for other children to be cared for or met from school.
Arrive on time.
If the parent (or their child) need an interpreter, they should tell social services beforehand.
Take a friend or relative for help and support.
If their child is at the meeting, make sure it meets his or her needs. Is the room accessible?
Would the children be more comfortable with fewer people in the room? Is the child able to say what they wants, and are the professionals listening?
Take notes of who has agreed to do what, or ask the friend who comes with them to do so.


Equipment
Social services can provide a lot of equipment through Community Equipment Services.
Equipment may help with lifting, seating, managing stairs, safety, communication, washing and bathing, toileting, independence around the home and playing.
It may include large items like hoists or small ones like nappies.

It's important to get equipment that's appropriate and comfortable for the child, so parents can be advised to:

rely on what their child wants if s/he is able to say
make sure equipment is age and lifestyle appropriate
let the child try out large bits of equipment; it may be possible to arrange this either at home or at a disabled living centre
consider getting help from charities and voluntary groups with better quality items (eg a higher specification wheelchair).


Modifications to the home
Can the council do the work?
Councils can make necessary modifications to their own properties, and to other properties with the owner's permission. Parents can be advised to:

Look carefully at the specifications beforehand.
Check that what is suggested will work not only for the disabled child but for everyone else too.
Make sure that it is clear who will put right any damaged decoration.
Make sure that alternative accommodation is provided if it is necessary to move out while the work is done.
Councils may want rent arrears or other breaches of the tenancy dealt with before work starts. For arrears, this normally means keeping to a repayment agreement but not necessarily paying them off.

Disabled Facilities Grant (DFG)
These grants are available to pay for necessary and appropriate modifications for disabled people in their homes. They are available to owner occupiers and to tenants, and can also be available to occupiers of mobile homes and houseboats.

The grant can be up to £25,000 but the amount of the grant is means tested. If the works will cost more than the amount provided by the grant, other grants and loans may be available (see below).

A Disabled Facilities Grant must be obtained before work is started, and the council can take up to six months to decide on the application. It is possible to apply before the social services assessment has taken place.

Other grants and loans
As well as Disabled Facilities Grant (DFG), the council can provide grants or loans for other home improvement works.
These payments have no financial limit and are not limited to what is necessary and appropriate, so could pay for works that are beneficial but not strictly necessary.
However, although the council can make these payments, it is not legally required to.

Usually money will be provided in the form of loans. Grants, apart from DFG, will usually only be awarded if a loan is not appropriate, usually because there would be no way of paying it off.

Advice about carrying out works
Local authorities can often provide helpful advice about the works, but in the end it is the home owner or tenant who is responsible.
Parents should be advised to:

Look carefully at the specifications beforehand.
Check that what is suggested will work not only for the disabled child but for everyone else too.
Make sure that any damaged decoration is put right.
Make sure that professional fees (such as the fees of an architect to design and manage the work) are included in the DFG application.
Choose the builder with care. Get contact details of previous customers and take up references.
Make sure that you or your architect obtains planning permission and any other consent necessary.

Moving to a more suitable home
If it isn't practicable to modify the current home, it may be necessary to move.

Families who cannot access a suitable home may fall within the legal definition of homelessness.
This will include some owner occupiers as well as many tenants.
They should be advised to make a homelessness application.

Where the child has had a social services assessment that supports the move to a new home, the council's housing department should co-operate with social services to find a suitable property.
If an assessment has not been carried out, it may be more difficult to explain the position to the council.

Owner occupiers who can afford a suitable home will usually have to pay for the move themselves, but may be able to get funding for modifications in the new home, from the Disabled Facilities Grant (DFG) or other grants and loans.

Contact Shelter's free housing advice helpline on 0808 800 4444 for any help or assistance with housing matters or feel free to post a thread in the forum and we will advise where possible.

---

Our Irish members can also use our new website for Ireland which is

Thanks for this Daniel.
Going to started making my list of things I want/ need assessing.
(This post was last modified: 10-14-2010 07:10 AM by Sara Sophie's Mummy.)

I live in a private rent and I heard that he was willing to let disabled person adapt the house to thier needs. If the landlord agreeds which im sure he would is there a possibly of a grant to extend the house and the only way is up into the attic and the box bedroom at the side of the bathroom knock through to make a bigger bedroom and then move the bathroom to the other smaller bedroom which would give a slight bigger bathroom. Am I being crazy and living in a dream world? the downstairs is just right in my house the children have thier own toy room theres a living room and a ok sized kitchen and a small yard. My oldest wants to bulid his lego without it being touched or knocked he dont even want people looking at it so its in my room and it does get knocked and looked at, his room his tiny, the toy is open to people that are going to touch it more so his younger brother, thats just one major issue with him.

(01-03-2011 02:54 PM)Andrea and Bradley Wrote:  I live in a private rent and I heard that he was willing to let disabled person adapt the house to thier needs. If the landlord agreeds which im sure he would is there a possibly of a grant to extend the house and the only way is up into the attic and the box bedroom at the side of the bathroom knock through to make a bigger bedroom and then move the bathroom to the other smaller bedroom which would give a slight bigger bathroom. Am I being crazy and living in a dream world? the downstairs is just right in my house the children have thier own toy room theres a living room and a ok sized kitchen and a small yard. My oldest wants to bulid his lego without it being touched or knocked he dont even want people looking at it so its in my room and it does get knocked and looked at, his room his tiny, the toy is open to people that are going to touch it more so his younger brother, thats just one major issue with him.

In all honesty the council are very unlikely to provide any grant for an extension.
The toy room would not be deemed a requirement and as such would state that this room could be used as a bedroom.
Really just cant see any money being made availible for additional space in these circumstances.
Is there the possibility you could move your son into the downstairs room and then make the smaller room a toy room?

OK, thank you for that.