Disabled Facilities Grant Funding via Better Care Fund

Disabled Facilities Grant Funding via Better Care Fund – An Opportunity to Improve Outcomes(?)

April 2015 saw the introduction of a significant change in the way that national funding for disabled facilities grants is paid. Henceforth the Better Care Fund will receive the money, and the allocation will then to be passed on to the relevant Housing Authority (in two tier areas) or Department (in unitary authorities).

The charity Care & Repair England has published a briefing which explains the changes, clarifies responsibilities and highlights opportunities for integration.

This may be useful to professionals involved in the provision of  home adaptations, and especially to patient and service user representatives; we suggest it may also act as a introduction/overview for the ‘lay person’, in the absence to date of any more accessible resources.

A ministerial statement has now informed local authorities of the amount of funding that they are due from national government to support provision of DFGs (Spreadsheet of allocations available here).

The Better Care Fund is a significant element in the ambition to inprove integration of health and social care. This is from an article on the LGA website : “The £3.8 billion Better Care Fund (BCF) was announced by the Government in the June 2013 Spending Round, to support transformation and integration of health and social care services to ensure local people receive better care. The BCF is a pooled budget that shifts resources into social care and community services for the benefit of the NHS and local government.  Following agreement by Ministers in June 2014, £1 billion of the NHS additional contribution to the BCF will now either be commissioned by the NHS on out of hospital services or be linked to a corresponding reduction in total emergency admissions. Protection of social care remains a top priority, and the revised plans must reflect this clear policy intention.“

Depressingly, the Care and Repair website also cites a report by the Leonard Cheshire Foundation (April 2015) on failures and delays in the previous system of Disabled Facilities Grant funding: “Research by the Leonard Cheshire Foundation has revealed that two thirds of councils are missing legal deadlines when it comes to provision of disabled facilities grants (DFGs) to meet the costs of essential home adaptations for disabled people. ‘The Long Wait for a Home’ reveals that almost half (44%) of councils had examples of disabled people waiting more than two years for DFG payment. Eight councils reported waits of over four years. Councils are struggling to meet the increase in demand. DFG applications have risen by 6% since 2011/12 but the amount of adaptations funded in the same period has risen by only half that (3%). Health and social care policies are committed to independent living at home for more disabled and older people. Home adaptations play a vital role in enabling this to happen but so far most local budgets have not been set at levels which are adequate to achieve this aspiration.” We wait to see whether funding via the Better Care Fund brings about any improvement.