Easy Access In Old Age
Monday 26th February 2024
The Disabled Facilities Grant (DFG) helps pay for adapting a home to suit a person’s specific needs, such as creating downstairs bathrooms, widening doors for wheelchair access or installing stair-lifts. It has been capped at £30,000 since 2008.
In 2021, the Government threatened to raise this cap to help keep pace with the increased costs of building works.
However, despite The Department for Health and Social Care’s claim to be increasing the budget by £100m over two years, the number of people claiming the grant has increased, so it appears the cap will now stay the same.
We need to be better at creating more accessible homes, not only for those who have a disability but for those of us who are getting older, and need easier access.
I have been overseeing a personal refurbishment project and trying to make an old house more accessible for those in a wheelchair or with mobility issues. Widening the doors is not easy but I thought we could at least put a couple of ramps where there are currently single steps.
‘Oh no,’ said the architect. To have a ramp to drop 10cm, the slope must be 1.5m long or it would not get Building Regulations sign-off. So that scuppered that idea.
Additionally, I got pushback from the builders of ‘why would you do that?’ when I tried to adapt a downstairs cloakroom into a shower room, which would make it easier to live on one floor in old age.
All in all, we need a major cultural shift towards building and adapting homes suitably accessible for our disabled or aging population.
As I get older myself, I am becoming more aware of these issues. Natch!
Any thoughts or experiences on this topic yourself, do please share.
Until next time….
PB
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