More Bournemouth Residents Living Independently Thanks to Disabled Facilities Grants

The number of Bournemouth residents with disabilities who are benefiting from adaptations in their home has doubled in the last year.

The Disabled Facilities Grants (DFG) scheme provides adaptations to allow people to live independently in their own homes. The Council has streamlined its procedures and has improved partnership working with more residents benefiting from the scheme as a result.

Improvements include:

• There is an increase in the number of people receiving DFG adaptations, up from 102 in 2007/08 to 219 in 2009/10.

• Total time for DFG process significantly reduced.

• Time from identified need of the client to approval has reduced from 137 days in 08/09 to 107 in 10/11.

• Average cost for an adaptation has been reduced.

Councillor Peter Charon, Council Leader and Cabinet Member for Housing said: “I’m absolutely delighted to see this improvement in the use of the Disabled Facilities Grant funding. The proposal to allocate this work to Building Maintenance had my full backing when this area was covered by my portfolio as Cabinet Member for Housing and Procurement. This is a major step forward in assisting more of our residents to remain living independently in their homes for longer and less having to pay out for expensive care.”

The delivery of Disabled Facilities Grants is a partnership effort working across a range of Council areas including Environmental Health, Community Care and Building Maintenance.

For further information about the scheme contact: Bournemouth Care Direct on 01202 454979.

By Heidi Rees (Bournemouth 2026 Partnership)

Posted: Friday 3 September 2010

Permalink: http://www.bournemouth2026.org/more-bournemouth-residents-living-independently-thanks-to-disabled-facilities-grants

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