An application for a grant involves:

• An assessment of your needs by an occupational therapist
• A financial assessment of your income and savings to determine the amount of grant to be paid however, grants for disabled children under 19

You will need to contact Staffordshire Cares by calling 0300 111 8010 (Adults) or 0800 13 13 126 (Children) and give them details regarding the disabled person. Depending on your circumstances they will arrange for an occupational therapist to visit your home and assess the needs of the disabled person and/or will refer your details to us to determine what adaptation is required. In exceptional cases a decision will be made to prioritise the case as urgent.

Do not start work until we have approved your application.

We will obtain all necessary permissions, prepare any drawings, obtain prices from contractors and order and supervise the works. You can appoint your own architects and contractors but we will only approve a grant based on reasonable costs of other similar works. You need to make sure any insurances, building regulation or planning permission needed have been granted before work starts and will need to oversee the works.

We may pay the grant in instalments as the work progresses or make one payment once all the work is done. Your grant will only be fully paid when we are satisfied that the work has been satisfactorily completed in accordance with the grant approval and on receipt of an invoice, appropriate safety certificates, warranties and completion notices. The completed works must also fully meet the needs of the disabled person, as specified by the occupational therapist.

Once the Council has completed all the relevant paperwork, including all necessary consents and approvals, we will make our decision on how much grant you are entitled to. This will be based on what we consider to be the most cost-effective scheme to provide the necessary facilities. If you want a larger scheme or a more expensive builder, you will have to pay all the additional cost. We will reach our decision within 6 months.

The Council will register a local land charge on properties in relation to applications for a Disabled Facility Grant.

• The charge will only apply to any home owner receiving a disabled facilities grant of more than £5,000.
• The charge will be the amount of grant you receive over £5,000 up to a maximum charge of £10,000.
• The charge will be registered for 10 years.
• Subject to particular exceptions the charge would have to be repaid if the property is disposed of within the 10 year period.
• If your grant is less than £5,000 this charge does not affect you.