Political storm over disabilities adaptation fund

COUNCIL chiefs fear a £460,000 blackhole in funding for house adaptations for people with disabilities could see them prosecuted for failing in their duties.

Oldham Council’s Labour leaders have blamed the previous Lib- Dem/Tory administration for the funding shortfall sparking a political row.

Adaptation grants can make the difference between adults and children being able to carry on living in their own home or being forced to go into care.

Councillor Phil Harrison, Labour’s Cabinet Member for Adult Care and Health, said the shortfall was a direct attack on the most vulnerable residents of the borough.

The council receives a Disabled Facilities Grant (DFG) from Government but Councillor Harrison says that this year information on the level of funding was delayed.

When the amount was known it was noted that other capital expenditure would be necessary to top up the grant in order for Oldham to fulfil its statutory duties.

Councillor Harrison says this is standard practice but claims that, crucially, this was not included in the budget passed in February.

The shortfall came to light only after Labour recently prepared its emergency budget.

Councillor Harrison says it could cause Oldham to fail in its statutory duties to disabled people because the Government grant would fall far short of funding current demand for adaptations.

There have been recent cases of councils being successfully prosecuted in court over their failure to fulfil their duties and lack of money was not accepted as a viable defence.

Councillor Harrison said: “I’m very concerned about the possibility of Oldham Council being brought into disrepute by the actions of the previous administration. The current Cabinet has been asked to note the potential of risk and possible reputational damage by having no local top up to the DFG this financial year and to place this on the Corporate Risk Register.

“The failure to make the local contribution to the DFG, along with the closure of Oldham’s respite and dementia facilities, demonstrates the lack of commitment by the Lib- Dem/Tory administration to sick and disabled people in the borough.”

But Councillor Brian Lord, who was the Lib-Dem cabinet member for adult services and health at the time, said millions of pounds of extra money had been poured into home adaptations to reduce a backlog.

He said: “My recollection is that next to the last year that I was responsible we put a significant extra amount in the budget, in fact we nearly doubled the amount available, to reduce the backlog.

“As we had significantly reduced the waiting list there were very few people coming forward where they feel they have not got a fair deal. We were not getting any increase in people to deal with. If there was that shortfall in the budget I would have thought we would have been aware and we certainly weren’t.

“The general view is that we had been extremely generous in that area, more so than our predecessors, and that certainly we avoided people going to the ombudsman and complaining.

“There are always far more people wanting adaptations than money available. It’s an ongoing problem as the amount of money given covers one in three of those that need it.

“But we always have topped it up. Two years ago we topped it up by a significant amount but it’s not something that you can ever afford to cover fully. To get rid of the waiting list is dreamland, there isn’t the money there to do it.

“I would suggest we were very good in dealing with this. There was no evidence of any major shortfall in the money we provided.”