Presented by Karen Wigley, Professional Lead for Occupational Therapy, and Clare Hardwick, Deputy Private Sector Housing Manager

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Disabled Facilities Grants
Good Practice Example – 5th
October 2017
Karen Wigley - Professional Lead for Occupational Therapy
Clare Hardwick – Deputy Private Sector Housing Manager

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Introduction
 Portsmouth is a Unitary Authority with a population of circa 270,000. It is the
most densely populated city in the country.
 We have a large Local Authority owned Housing stock of 14,800 dwellings.
 We have 8,300 properties that are owned by HA/ RSL/ RP managed by 32
different RPs.
 Recommendations for DFGs are made by OTs in PCCs community
Occupational Therapy Service. 17 FTE OTs for adult services, and 2 FTE
OTs for Childrens services.
 48% of OT assessments result in a recommendation for a DFG.

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OT Intervention – Vanguard Systems
Thinking Approach
 Check – what the current system looked like
 Re-design – discover what is possible in a controlled
environment
 Roll-in – handover to the people in the service and
imbed changes

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DFG Intervention – Systems Thinking
Approach
Follow on Intervention between Adult Social Care &
Housing Services for DFG system to streamline process
Purpose – “Help me to adapt my home, when I need it,
to stay in my home safely, improve my independence
and quality of life”.
Check – what the current system looked like
Re-design – discover what is possible in a controlled environment
Roll-in – handover to the people in the service and imbed changes

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DFG Intervention – Systems Thinking
Approach
OT service
Decision made on site when assessment done and referral
made over the phone while with customer to make follow up
appointment with surveyor.
Establish clients financial situation during assessment and
confirm nil contribution where possible.
Help us to help you form to prepare for survey & application.
Clean handover of information ready for survey visit.
Joint visits between OT & surveyor only for complex cases.
Access to databases to track progress
Key Changes:

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DFG Intervention – Systems Thinking
Approach
Key Changes:
Surveyor service
Joint visits between OT & surveyor only for complex
cases.
Use HB database where possible for means testing (Local
Authority Housing).
Applicant choice of 1 contractor or more to quote.
Due to clean handover of information, tender can be sent
out typically within 24hrs of survey.
Single point of contact for Landlord permission.
Manage builders capacity.

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DFG Process
Initial OT assessment:
Carryout assessment of need as normal.
When DFG identified, phone to make referral & appointment can be made over the phone
for surveyor visit.
Collect any proof of pass-porting benefit if possible and forward this, along with
recommendations to the surveying team prior to their follow up visit.
Phone company (such as stairlift company, if stairlift needed) to arrange for them to come
out and quote while with the customer.
Deal with follow work up same day where possible.

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DFG Process
Surveyor team; the follow up visit:
Prior to survey visit check Housing Benefits records, and any financial info provided by
OT. Check Land Registry for ownership of property. If rented then make contact with
landlord to ask for permission. Fill in basic info on application forms where possible
ready for appointment.
Carryout survey of property and use OT recommendations to establish how to meet the
clients needs.
If not already obtained, collect any proof of financial information, and complete application
forms with client.
Explain proposals to client, establish if they have a desired timescale for works to be
done, whether they would like 1 quote or 2, and explain what will happen next.

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DFG Process
Surveyor team; what happens next:
Admin team check clients application and financial info ASAP following survey, and
confirmation is given to client of their contribution.
At the same time Surveyor produces tender documents which are sent out as soon as
contribution is confirmed. Contractors are given a set deadline to return tenders, and their
lead in times are carefully monitored.
Copy of tender documents are sent to the client (and landlord if relevant).
Once tender is returned & client confirms they are happy to proceed, provided landlord
permissions are received, approval can be processed.
JCT contracts used, start dates confirmed, works monitored on site & final inspection.

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DFG Process
LAH process:
Admin team check Housing Benefits records. Only do means test if not in
receipt of Housing Benefit.
DFG demand is treated in similar manner to day-to-day repairs, dealt with by
service provider for straight forward adaptations.
OT should do clean handover of information for service provider to visit and
schedule works. Joint visits should only be carried out for complex cases, which
would be with surveyor.

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Measures – Previous System

12. Test Case in Re-Design
 25/11/16 First contact with PCC (Initial demand)
 30/11/16 Initial OT assessment
 30/11/16 Referral to PSH
 01/12/16 Surveyor visit
 01/12/16 Means Test completed
 02/12/16 Out to tender
 13/12/16 Both estimates returned
 23/12/16 DFG Approved
 16/01/16 Work starts on site
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13. End to end times - previous system
compared to test case
• First Contact to Complete work – 283 days - 62 days
• OT assessment to DFG referral – 31 days - 0 days
• First contact to DFG referral – 125 days - 5 days
• DFG referral to Start of work – 137 days - 46 days
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14. Current performance
47 Days from OT referral to grant approval.
Previous average of 92 days.
87 Days from OT referral to completing the works.
Previous average of 147 days.
208 days from the client's first contact with Council, to the adaptations
being completed. Prior to the intervention the time from first contact to
completion of the adaptations was an average of 308 days.
When looking at the above figures we can see that the client is in the
OT assessment system for 121 days before entering the DFG system.
This is continuing to improve.
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15. Challenges
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 Timescale waiting for OT assessment
 OT assessment to referral for DFG
 Joint visit or not
 Locum OTs as temporary measure
 Means testing
 Permission – Private & HA
 Contractor capacity
 Client needs additional support

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Assistance currently available beyond
mandatory DFG
 Palliative Care Grant – Stairlifts for terminally ill
 Disabled Persons Equipment Replacement Grant – To repair or replace
stairlifts, shower units etc.
 Disabled Facilities Assistance – Interest free loan to top up DFG limit or to
fund contribution
 Package of discretionary grants & loans to address disrepair to properties
 Private Sector Grant to relocate to more suitable property
 LAH have acquired properties that are adapted to diversify stock

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Potential assistance available beyond
mandatory DFG
 Top up grant
 No Means testing for certain adaptations
 Funding to pay for equipment/ technologies
 Joining service up with Home safety / handy person scheme / ECO
team

18. Any Questions?
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