Adapting your home

If you're disabled and want to adapt your home (to make it easier to live independently) you can arrange a free occupational therapy assessment via our Customer Access and Assessment Team.

Following your assessment, our Healthy and Sustainable Homes Service team will determine whether the work you want to carry out is reasonable and practical. Based on the outcome, we may be able to help with the cost and installation.

There are 2 types of home adaptations:

minor adaptations which include rails, half-steps, door entry systems
major adaptations which are larger alterations including ramps, stair lifts, through floor lifts, level access showers, widening of paths or doors

Cost of adapting your home

If deemed reasonable and practical, minor and major adaptations within council homes are free. If you are not in council housing, you may be able to apply for a grant.

Adaptation grants

A 'means tested' Disabled Facilities Grant (DFG) may be available to fund major adaptations (above £5,000) for:

homeowners
housing association tenants
private tenants

As the grant amount is 'means tested', you may need to contribute to the cost of works.

A ‘non-means tested’ Discretionary Adaptation Grant is available for lower value adaptations (less than £5,000). Although this grant is not means tested, the agreed amount is subject to the council’s annual budget.

Contact our Customer Access and Assessment Team and request an occupational therapy assessment to apply for these grants. Grants cannot be paid retrospectively, so a grant must be approved before work starts.

Adaptations for self-funding homeowners

If you're a homeowner and decide to fund adaptations yourself, you can find a list of traders (vetted by the police, City of York Trading Standards and Age UK York) through the Age UK York Trusted Traders directory (.pdf).

Further information on home adaptations

Be Independent provide the equipment loan service, which provides simple aids to daily living for disabled people, people recovering from surgery, elderly people and their carers to support lifelong independence.

You can also find out more by downloading our Private Sector Assistance Policy.