Issue - meetings

To consider a report by the Head of Housing Services on changes to Disabled Facilities Grants and associated funding matters.

The release of the remaining portion of the DFG budget was approved.

Quarterly monitoring reports were requested on the level of uptake of DFGs.

The Deputy Leader was authorised to make representations on the Council’s concerns regarding its increasing financial burdens resulting from new responsibilities to the Local Government Association, the Minister for Local and Regional Government and local Members of Parliament as set out above.

Consideration was given to a report by the Head of Housing Services (a copy of which is appended in the Minute Book) which outlined the implications for the Council of the Government’s decision to cap its contribution towards Disabled Facilities Grants.  Members noted the numbers of DFGs processed since 2001/02 and the likely future trends which it was anticipated would require the release of £99,000 from the remaining budget for the year.  Against that background and the pressure which the Government’s decision was likely to place on District Council budgets for the foreseeable future, the Cabinet agreed that monitoring reports should be presented on a quarterly basis for the remainder of the financial year. 

In discussing the potential options for a combined approach with the Primary Care Trust to the provision of facilities for the disabled, Members expressed their concern at the timing of the announcement so soon after the start of the new financial year and in the context of the range of additional responsibilities imposed on local authorities without additional funding.  In that context, it was

RESOLVED

  (a)  that the release of the budget provision for Disabled Facilities Grants in the current year be approved;

  (b)  that applications for Disabled Facilities Grants be dealt with as expeditiously as possible and that a further report be submitted to a future meeting on the projected financial implications arising from the determination of applications with a view to monitoring developments on a quarterly basis; and

  (c)  that representations be made via the Local Government Association to convey the Council’s extreme disquiet with regard to the Government’s decision to cap its contribution towards the cost of mandatory Disabled Facilities Grants, its timing in terms of local authority budgeting processes and its impact on local Council Tax payers.