Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether (a) guidance has been provided to Dudley Council on the treatment of Armed Forces compensation in means-testing for Disabled Facilities Grants and (b) the Government’s commission on adult social care will consider reform to the treatment of Armed Forces compensation in means testing for the Disabled Facilities Grant.

In March 2022, the Government published Disabled Facilities Grant (DFG) guidance for local authorities in England. It includes a section on the Armed Forces community and can be found here: www.gov.uk/government/publications/disabled-facilities-grant-dfg-delivery-guidance-for-local-authorities-in-england

The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government funds Foundations, the national body for the Disabled Facilities Grant and Home Improvement Agencies, to work with local authorities on all aspects of delivery. We are not aware of any specific guidance provided to Dudley Council; however, local authorities have a considerable degree of discretion in how they deliver home adaptation grants. This includes the power to fully disregard all military compensation payments in the application of the means test.

Baroness Casey, chair of the Independent Commission into adult social care, is looking at what fundamental reforms will be needed in adult social care. The Commission's Terms of Reference is sufficiently broad to enable Baroness Casey to define its remit to independently consider how to build a social care system fit for the future.