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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking to reduce waiting times for the processing of Disabled Facilities Grants applications for people with motor neurone disease.

The government recognises the importance of timely and efficient delivery of home adaptations including through the Disabled Facilities Grant (DFG) to help enable people with progressive conditions such as motor neurone disease (MND) to live independently 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 DFG to £711 million for both 2024-25 and 2025-26.

Local authorities have discretion in managing their DFG funding, and can publish a local housing assistance policy including detail on how they will respond to rapidly progressing conditions such as MND. For example, they can waive the means test or fast track the DFG process for people with MND.

This is clearly set out in government guidance (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/disabled-facilities-grant-dfg-delivery-guidance-for-local-authorities-in-england) which encourages local authorities to streamline the application process to improve the delivery of adaptations, including for people living with MND. While it is for local authorities to determine the flexibilities that best meet the needs of their residents, the guidance also encourages them to prioritise urgent cases and work towards good practice timescales.