Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to grant local authorities powers to apply local means-testing policies to the Disabled Facilities Grant budget.

In England, we continue to fund the Disabled Facilities Grant (DFG) which is administered by local authorities. This grant helps eligible older and disabled people on low incomes to adapt their homes to make them safe and suitable for their needs. Practical changes include installing stairlifts, level-access showers, and ramps.

Local authorities already have a significant amount of flexibility in how they deliver the DFG, including removing means testing for grants costing under a certain amount. Local authorities have flexibility on determining the level below which they wish to remove the means test.

We have provided an additional £172 million over two years to uplift the DFG, which could fund approximately 15,000 extra home adaptations. This brings total funding for the DFG to £711 million in each of 2024/25 and 2025/26.