Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps he is taking to support Somerset Council with the provision of the Disabled Facilities Grant in Yeovil constituency.

The government recognises the importance of home adaptations, to enable older and disabled people to live as independently as possible in a safe and suitable environment. Local authorities have a statutory duty to provide adaptations for people who satisfy a needs assessment, eligibility criteria and a means test, and have powers to agree a more generous local policy. To support this duty, government have boosted funding for the Disabled Facilities Grant (DFG) by £86 million per year to £711 million for both 2024-25 and 2025-26.

Government provides guidance to local authorities on the effective delivery of the grant, which can be found on gov.uk here. This guidance also outlines how councils can develop a local housing assistance policy to improve efficiency and better address the needs of their local communities.

Government also funds a national body for DFGs and home improvement agencies, currently Foundations, to provide support and advice to local authorities to help them deliver the DFG as efficiently as possible.