Typically this can include the following:
• Access to and from the property including ramps and lifts
• Converting a bathroom into a wetroom
• Kitchen adaptations so that you can cook and prepare food
• Improving or providing a suitable heating system
• Easier access to the garden
Completing this work can be an expensive process, so there may be a source of funding available from your local authority called a Disabled Facilities Grant (DFG).
Council tenants and those living in private accommodation are eligible to receive a DFG, which is designed to fund the adaptations your home requires. The DFG is provided and administered by the housing department at your local authority. As long as all the relevant conditions have been met, housing departments are in theory obliged to approve DFG applications up to a maximum of £30,000 in England.
Some housing departments have the discretion to exceed this in certain circumstances. The application process is means tested and in our experience, most people will not receive anywhere near the maximum grant available.
Our partnership with the charity Aspire
If you are concerned that you and your family will not have anywhere suitable to live after discharge from hospital, we can help by referring you to our partners at the charity Aspire.
Aspire is a national spinal cord injury charity that offers practical support to the 40,000 people living with Spinal Cord Injury in the UK, so that they can lead fulfilled and independent lives in their homes, with their families, in workplaces and during leisure time.
The housing team is based at the National Training Centre in Stanmore, Middlesex, and can help you with some of the housing problems you may be experiencing.
Aspire’s website
The Aspire website can be found at www.aspire.org.uk. Here you will find lots of useful information on a whole range of issues.
Aspire’s housing helpline
For help with queries about housing issues, please call the Aspire Housing Team on 020 8420 6709.
Welfare benefits
If you are concerned about how you will pay the mortgage or rent in the wake of an accident to yourself or the main earner in your family, Aspire’s dedicated welfare benefits advice service will be able to help. They can provide information on the whole range of benefits to which you may be entitled, including housing and council tax benefits. The welfare benefit advice line number is 0208 420 6711, or you can email them at welfarebenefits@aspire.org.uk.
Aspire houses
The Aspire Housing Programme provides a nationwide network of fully adapted houses for spinally injured people to use whilst a permanent housing solution is being found. All the Aspire houses are fully accessible and come with wet rooms and adapted kitchens, but most importantly, they have two bedrooms so your family or personal assistant can stay with you.
To find out more about the Aspire Housing Programme, you can contact a member of the team on 020 8420 6720.
How Aspire Law can help you
Aspire Law are expert Spinal Cord Injury solicitors. We act for a large number of clients who have sustained a Spinal Cord Injury due to someone else’s fault. In these circumstances we are able to address housing/accommodation needs through the personal injury claim. We are often able to secure interim payments for this purpose, which helps our clients return home or to a new property as soon as practicable.
We employ the services of a number of specialist accommodation experts to include sourcing agents, architects and assistive technologists. These experts can locate a suitable property, design and build according to requirements and install all appropriate equipment. As well as any property being large enough and fully accessible, services can include separate carer/personal assistant accommodation, a therapy room/gym, a hydrotherapy pool, level grounds/accessible outbuildings and remote controls for such things as doors, curtains, cupboards and lighting. These measures ensure the home is both usable and comfortable and private; away from carers and personal assistants when preferred.