Disabled Facilities Grant (DFG) for children

Step by step

1. Start with an OT assessment and the statutory route

   Request the council's home or Occupational Therapy assessment and ask for a formal DFG application where major building work is needed. A DFG application is free. In England the mandatory maximum is £30,000, and a disabled child under 18 can be assessed without the parents' income being taken into account; this is a maximum, not an automatic payment.

2. Get a written, costed decision before work starts

   Ask the council to identify the approved eligible works, professional fees, estimated cost, grant amount, any contribution, grant conditions and the remaining shortfall. Do not commission work, pay a deposit or allow work to start before written approval because retrospective funding can be refused.

3. Ask for the local discretionary top-up

   North Northamptonshire's March 2025 policy publishes up to £20,000 additional top-up for eligible applicants receiving the full mandatory DFG; parents are not means-tested for a child's top-up. Cases above the normal £50,000 combined total can be referred to an independent panel where hardship and all other options are evidenced. West Northamptonshire's April 2026 policy publishes up to £25,000 top-up for qualifying applicants with an owner's interest; it is discretionary, family finances are considered for children, and moving plus other funding must first be explored.

4. Consider relocation assistance when adaptation is impracticable

   North Northamptonshire publishes a HomeMove Grant of up to £6,000, split between specified moving and new-property adaptation costs. West Northamptonshire publishes a relocation grant up to £10,000 for reasonable moving costs. Both are discretionary and must be agreed before the move.

5. Address shared homes, foster care and residential placements explicitly

   A mandatory DFG normally concerns the disabled person's only or main home. For a second parental home, foster placement or family stays from residential care, ask Housing, the OT and the child's social worker to record the safe-care purpose and consider discretionary housing assistance, social-care equipment and the responsible authority's funding. Charitable funding should not be used to avoid a council, NHS or responsible local authority duty.

6. Separate adaptations, equipment and care support

   Ask the OT and social worker to record which needs require building work, which can be met by loan equipment or a minor adaptation, and which need care, moving-and-handling training or health support. Council or NHS/community-equipment routes should be tried before asking a charity to replace a statutory service.

7. Use Independence at Home for a documented funding gap

   Independence at Home considers modest grants for home adaptations, lifts, ramps, accessible bathing, heating and related equipment. A health, social-care, advice or charity professional must apply as the referrer; the public cannot apply directly. Prepare medical evidence, a case of need, household finances, details of all other funding and a recent contractor or supplier quotation.

8. Use Sullivan's Heroes for a disabled-child adaptation shortfall

   Where approved home-adaptation costs exceed the DFG and other funding, Sullivan's Heroes can consider a financial grant, a supported family fundraising page, or both. It needs DFG or council evidence, an OT letter and at least two builder quotes. Funds remain tied to the adaptation project and contractor or supplier invoices.

9. Use equipment charities for the item, not usually the building work

   Newlife can consider specialist equipment up to £10,000 for eligible UK children under 19 and requires professional support; it can part-fund if no order or payment has been made. Variety supports eligible disabled children aged 18 or under and needs a professional letter, quote and financial evidence. Children Today asks families to call first, obtain a suitable professional reference and quote, and secure every contribution before ordering.

10. Match the fund to the person and the exact item

    Hospital Saturday Fund can consider listed equipment and access items up to £2,000 through a professional supporter. FNAIST funds medical and disability equipment for all ages but explicitly excludes home adaptations, stairlifts and car adaptations. League of Helping Hand offers small professionally referred hardship grants. React, Lifeline 4 Kids, Promise Dreams and Mobility Trust each have narrower age, diagnosis, equipment or application rules, so use their cards rather than assuming they fund every disability-related cost.

11. Search wider charitable funds systematically

    Use the free Turn2us Grants Search, which lists more than 1,400 funds. Search separately for the disabled person, parent or partner because eligibility may depend on disability, former occupation, trade union, location, faith, service history or another personal link. Ask the OT, social worker, Citizens Advice or a Home Improvement Agency to help with funds that only accept professional referrals.

12. Treat Family Fund as household support, not a structural top-up

    Family Fund may help eligible low-income families with household items and wider family costs, which can reduce pressure on the family budget, but it should not be described as a structural DFG top-up. Family Fund's current rules say it cannot provide grants for children or young people in local-authority care; a child-in-need arrangement is not excluded by that rule.

13. Reduce the shortfall before borrowing

    Check VAT relief for qualifying disability equipment and adaptation work, the Council Tax Disabled Band Reduction where the home has an extra disability-related room, bathroom, kitchen or indoor wheelchair space, and any council energy-efficiency help where heating or insulation forms part of the plan. Ask a landlord or housing association for a contribution. Treat commercial loans or equity release as a last resort and take independent financial advice first.

14. Build one reusable evidence pack

    Keep the OT recommendation, written DFG decision, approved schedule of works, planning or landlord consent, at least one current quote, the exact shortfall, diagnosis or clinical evidence, benefit and household-income evidence, and a list of every fund approached. Ask the council to state what it will fund and why any part is excluded.

15. Coordinate mixed funding before placing an order

    Tell the council and every charity about all other awards and applications. Confirm in writing which fund pays each invoice or item, whether funds can be combined, who will pay the supplier, and the deadline for using the award. Do not double-fund the same cost, pay a deposit or start work before all required approvals are in place.

16. Ask for a formal decision if the process stalls

    A properly submitted DFG application must be considered, and government guidance says the council must approve or refuse it as soon as reasonably practicable and no later than six months after the application date. Ask for written reasons for refusal and use the council complaint process; the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman is the next route after the council has responded.

17. Apply again if needs change

    There is no national restriction on successive DFG applications for the same property when further adaptations become necessary, although previous contributions can be taken into account and local discretionary top-up policies may have their own limits. Ask for a fresh assessment when the person's condition, equipment, household or safe-care arrangements change.