Agenda item

The Director of Housing submits a report to update the Commission on the processes followed for the delivery of adaptations by tenure, council owned and all other and the two funding routes that apply.

The Head of Service presented the report, and it was noted that:

·       The process to determine the need for adaptations is carried out by occupational therapist in the social care and education division. They will conduct an assessment of the individuals needs to identify the level of support and required adaptations.

·       Adaptions required for council tenants and under £1k will be completed by the housing division on equal priority. Adaptations over £1k, such as stair lifts and shower rooms etc. will be completed in priority order. The occupational therapist will allocate points depending on circumstances, but end of life and life limiting cases are often highest priority.

·       The order to complete adaptations is continuously changing dependent on priority and therefore not determined by a waiting list. The service aims to work as quickly as possible to ensure all adaptations are met and those with least priority also have work completed to meet their needs.

·       The Council is committed to delivering adaptations to meet the needs or tenants and has allocated £1.2m-£1.3m each year from the Housing Revenue Account over recent years. This includes funding provision for the adapt-to-let scheme where properties are identified to be able to be reconfigured to be adapted or where they are currently partially adapted and can be made fully adapted.

·       The housing build programme commits to deliver 10% of new builds that meet full wheelchair standards and planning gain also requires adapted properties to be delivered through private sector developments.

·       The disabled facilities grant is available to deliver adaptations for non-council tenants although this is a means tested fund and government limit contributions with a cap of £30k. For individuals who live in private rented accommodation, housing association properties or owner-occupied homes, the social care and education division will commission minor adaptations to be completed directly and major works can be self-fund or applications can be made to the disabled facilities grant.

·       The government have allocated £1.861m million in recent years and the Council have contributed to increase the budget to enable more people to receive financial support to adaptations.

·       Customer feedback is usually positive when adaptations are completed but the benefits and impacts have not always been identified. A feedback questionnaire has therefore recently been implemented to gather data and further information can be shared with the Commission on the impact in future.

·       An Adaptation Strategy is being developed and key themes have been identified. It is intended to share for consultation in the coming months and further information will be shared with the Commission.

In response to questions and comments from Members, it was noted that:

·       Prior to adaptations taking place, tenants are required to sign to acknowledge the works to be completed to meet their needs. Work will be assessed by housing officers from a technical perspective to ensure it meets the required specification and the occupation therapist is required to assess and agree to sign off the adaptation to ensure if meets the tenants’ requirements. If a tenant is not satisfied with the completed work, the occupational therapist will deal with the complaint and can be escalated to the Ombudsman.

·       Adaptions for council tenants will be undertaken by in-house craft teams or a council procured contractor. For adaptions utilising the disabled facilities grant, the council can act as an agency service to appoint a contractor, or an individual can identify and appoint an independent contractor that meet conditions.

·       An extension to a property is usually determined as necessary where an individual requires ground floor living and where the occupational therapist has determined the current footprint of the property cannot be reconfigured to meet the individuals needs.

·       The Housing Revenue Account budget is monitored and reviewed periodically. On current analysis it is likely that actual spend for 2024/25 will be similar to recent years.

·       A breakdown of total wheelchair accessible new build properties as part of the councils housing acquisition and new build programme is available and was agreed to be shared.

·       A dashboard is used to highlight properties that have been adapted and therefore ineligible for the right to buy scheme. It was agreed that further information would be provided to the number of properties and consideration on how to ensure tenants are informed when adaptions are being considered.

Members were reminded to share casework with officers directly to investigate.

AGREED:

·       The Commission noted the report.

·       Additional information be circulated.

·       Further update to be provided on feedback of the impact adaptations have and the development of the adaptations strategy.