Under the regulations governing the disabled persons grant scheme, my Department recoups to housing authorities 50 per cent of the cost of each disabled persons grant paid by them, subject to a maximum of £4,000. The regulations do not specify a maximum limit on the amount of grant a local authority may pay. However, as housing authorities generally limit the grant they pay to twice the maximum recoupment available from my Department, the effective ceiling generally for the grant is £8,000. The scheme does not provide for the making of contributions by my Department to households to supplement disabled persons grants paid by local authorities nor are there funds available to me from which I could make a contribution.
I am, in the context of the Government's An Action Programme for the Millennium, examining possible options to extend the range of measures currently available to assist low income households in securing necessary improvement works to their housing, including the disabled persons grants scheme. Pending completion of this examination and decisions arising from it, I do not propose to comment on the possible outcome.
