Aids and adaptations to Council homes

What are aids and adaptations?

Aids and adaptations are changes to your home to help you when disability limits your daily activity.

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Who can apply?

You can apply for yourself or on behalf of anyone in your household who has a medical condition or physical disability which limits their daily activities.

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How do I apply?

Phone us free on 0800 521555 and an officer will fill in a referral form on your behalf and send it to an occupational therapist, who will then assess what work needs to be done to your home.

If your aid or adaptation is small and does not need to be assessed by an occupational therapist, Woking Repairs Service will order the work straight to the contractor, who will carry out the work within 15 working days.

This type of work includes:

  • securing grab rails which have come loose

  • removing the outside door cill so the doorway is level with the ground

  • replacing or repairing showers

  • replacing shower seats

  • fixing stair rails

  • supplying and fitting lever taps and window winders

  • fitting extra power points for Careline

  • putting up security lights

  • fitting key safes.

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What happens after an occupational therapist has visited me?

The occupational therapist will:

  • assess which aids and adaptations you need
  • assess the priority of the work
  • recommend what work we should carry out subject to funding being available.

We put all recommendations into the following categories:

1. Minor adaptations

Minor adaptations include the following:

  • building small access ramps

  • positioning grab rails

  • fitting a shower over the bath

  • fitting drop-down rails

  • fitting stairlifts

  • replacing a bath with a low-level shower.

We use this category in cases where there is a high risk of injury if the work is not done. We also use it to prevent delays when someone comes out of hospital.

We also use this category when you cannot use the existing bathing facilities because of your medical condition (for example, epilepsy and skin conditions).

2. Major adaptations

If you need major adaptations, we will carry out a `suitability and needs' assessment. This is to make sure your home can be adapted to suit you, or to see whether it could be more suitable to find you other accommodation.

Major adaptations include the following:

  • widening doors

  • raising or lowering kitchen units to suit wheelchair users

  • replacing a bath or low-level shower with a level-access shower

  • redesigning your kitchen

  • providing more space so a wheelchair can move around easily

  • providing safe areas

  • strengthening a ceiling hoist

  • providing slip-resistant flooring.

We aim to complete this work within eight weeks.

Major alterations include structural alterations like (this is not a full list):

  • lifts from one floor to another

  • extending your home to provide a bathroom, toilet or bedroom

  • fitting a ceiling hoist.

If structural alterations are needed, we will carry out a `suitability and needs' assessment.

We will send you a letter telling you who will be responsible for carrying out the work and how long the work should take. If possible, we will make an appointment for the work to be carried out and we will include this in the letter.

3. Equipment

You may need other equipment to be able to use the adaptation. We will liaise with the occupational therapist.

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What happens when the work is completed?

Once the work is completed, you will receive a customer satisfaction questionnaire. This will take only a few minutes of your time to fill in. Customer satisfaction is very important to us, and your comments help us to continually improve the service we provide to you.

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Refusing requests for adaptations

There are some adaptations which we will refuse to carry out unless there is funding available. These include:

  • providing power points for charging a buggy

  • building a buggy store

  • making changes to tarmacked areas and crossovers, including lowering the kerb

  • moving electrical sockets.

If we have carried out a `suitability and needs' assessment, we will refuse your request for an adaptation if:

  • your home is not suitable for the adaptation you need

  • there is a more suitable property available that could be adapted

  • there is a property available which is already adapted for your needs

  • if you have applied to buy your home under the right-to-buy scheme.

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Will having the adaptation mean you put up my rent and service charges?

We will only put your rent up if we have made your home bigger or increased the number of rooms.

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Appeals and complaints

We will deal with any appeals or complaints about adaptations in line with our complaints policy and procedure.