Issue - meetings

That the Committee support the revised Policy.

The Chief Officer (Housing and Assets) introduced the revised policy with regards to the Disabled Facilities Grants.  The Benefits Manager went on to discuss how they were making the policy clearer and that following on from an Audit Report that the process with regards to adaptations to homes had been much improved.  The Benefit Manager commented that the feasibility checks were now up front and that items such as Stair lifts no longer need to go through the DFG process.

The Chairman commented on previous concerns which had been raised by residents on the length of time taken waiting for different contractors to complete different stages of the process.  He asked whether this had been addressed.  The Benefits Manager advised that the current framework agreement with Contractors was due to be reviewed in early 2020.  As part of the reviewed Policy, residents would have a designated contact officer within the Council who would be in regular contact with Contractors in order to ensure project were completed within the timeframe.

Councillor Helen Brown commented on the number of days taken to complete a disabled adaptation and asked whether the ‘stop the clock’ system, where the time taken to complete the adaptation was stopped if issues outside of the Council’s control arose, was still being implemented.  The Benefits Manager advised that the ‘stop the clock’ system was being implemented, which brought more alignment with how other authorities recorded activity.  This also assisted residents who felt the need to take a break from the work involved in undertaking a disabled adaptation in complex circumstances.

Councillors Paul Shotton and Rosetta Dolphin welcomed the report and the progress made with introducing a revised policy.  Councillor Dolphin commented on the performance targets of completing disabled adaptations and asked when it was thought that performance would improve.  The Chief Officer advised that the performance was improving and would continue to be monitored closely as part of the quarterly performance monitoring reports to the Committee.  He commented that due to the complex nature of some disabled adaptations, and due to a number being held during the previous financial year due to funding there were a number of long standing DFG’s in the system.  These were being cleared but their performance overall pulled down current performance of all DFG’s in the system.  If they were set aside and timescales for those subject to the new policy measured, there would be a significantly more positive picture of timely achievement.

RESOLVED:

That the Committee support the revised Policy.