1. To start, arrange a visit from an O.T.  

 

You cannot apply directly to the Housing Executive. There is an open referral service available within your local Health and Social Care Trust. You can contact them, your GP or social worker to start the process. Explain that you require an assessment by an OT to identify adaptations for your home as a disabled person to ensure safe independent living. 

 

2. The OT will assess you in your home and, if adaptations are necessary, refer you to your local Housing Executive Grants Office.  

 

An OT will contact you to make an appointment to visit you in your home. During this appointment your OT will talk to you about potential adaptations, assess you and discuss possible options which may make your home more accessible. Following assessment, the OT may make a recommendation for adaptations that will increase the accessibility of your home, and send it to your local Housing Executive Grants Office. 

 

3. A dedicated NIHE Case Officer and Technical Officer will talk to you about your grant application.  

 

The Housing Executive will assign a dedicated Case Officer and Technical Officer to manage your case. These Officers will remain your points of contact and sources of information throughout your grants journey. Other members of our team will also be happy to help you at any point of the process.  

 

4. You may have to contribute towards the cost of the work. This may require a ‘means test’ to be completed.  

 

You may have to make a financial contribution (payment) towards the approved cost of grant aid works at your property. Each household’s contribution will depend on their financial circumstances and who the adaptation is for. Your Case Officer will contact you to assess if you have a financial contribution to make to the grant-aid work. NIHE refer to this means test as a ‘Test of Resources’. 

 

Adaptations for a child: If you receive Child Benefit for this child we do not carry out a ‘Test of Resources’ and you will move straight from step 3 to step 5 of the process. Please note: If the Test of Resources calculates that no contribution is required, you may still have to make a financial contribution towards getting the works completed (see FAQ section). If your contribution exceeds the estimated cost of the works, no grant funding will be made available. 

 

5. A NIHE Technical Officer will visit your home to survey your property.  

 

Once the ‘Test of Resources’ is complete and we tell you in writing what, if any, financial contribution you will make to the grant-aid works, we will arrange a ‘Preliminary Inspection’. Your Technical Officer will carry out a full inspection of the property and its surrounding outside area. This will determine if the works proposed by your OT are reasonable and practical. You will receive a letter detailing the day and approximate time of the preliminary inspection. If you will not be available, contact your Case Officer immediately to rearrange this appointment. 

 

6. You’ll be sent an information pack.  

 

NIHE will advise you if you need a Chartered Architectural Technologist / Designer, ADP can fulfill this role for you. Your Technical Officer will create a list of the works which will be necessary to complete the recommendation. This is called a List of Grant-Aided Works. This is not approval to start works.  

 

If the recommendation is a: Minor adaptation – you may not need an Chartered Architectural Technologist / Designer if there is a small amount of works to be completed. Where possible we will provide a proposed plan to help complete what’s been agreed with your OT and details of the amount of grant-aid you might expect to receive.  

 

Major adaptation - this is a larger scale of works and you will need an Chartered Architectural Technologist / Designer . The List of Grant-Aided Works will contain information for your Architectural Technologist / Designer to produce proposed plans to meet your OT’s recommendation. We will direct you to the ‘Housing Adaptations Design Toolkit Specification’ to help with the design and your Technical Officer will be on-hand to advise. At this stage we will not be able to give you an indication of the amount of grant-aid you could expect.  

 

Note: Your information pack will contain details of other support available to you to assist with progressing your grant application. Fees may be incurred at this point which you may have to pay. Once work has started these fees can be reimbursed with the first interim payment (see FAQ section). It is important you arrange for any information that we request to be sent in by the deadline given. If it is not returned, or no contact is made, your case may be closed, and a new OT recommendation may be required to open a new application. 

 

7. Plans of your proposed adaptations will be assessed by the Grants Office and your OT. 

 

Minor Adaptation - Where no Chartered Architectural Technologist / Designer is required, a proposed plan will be produced by our technical team. This proposed plan will be sent to your OT for review and approval. 

 

Major Adaptation - If the adaptation will take considerable work, you will need to employ a Chartered Architectural Technologist / Designer to provide a proposed plan to meet your OT’s recommendations. 

 

Your Technical Officer will work with you and the OT to ensure the proposed Chartered Architectural Technologist / Designers plans are approved promptly. They will also advise on what is considered ‘enhanced’ work and works not eligible for grant-aid. Once your OT has approved the proposed plans, you will be asked to instruct your Chartered Architectural Technologist / Designer to arrange any statutory approvals as necessary. 

 

8. All documentation requested should be submitted to the NIHE Grants Office.  

 

To move your application on to the next stage you must ensure we have received all of the information originally requested in the List of Grant-Aided Works pack. These may include, but are not limited to, statutory approvals such as: 

 

• Full Planning Approval Certificate 

• Stamped approved Planning Permission Plans 

• Building Control Approval Certificate 

• Stamped approved Building Control Plans 

• NI Water Build Over Agreement 

 

Contact your Case Officer if you need a reminder of the documents to be submitted or help with the process. Again, if you appoint ADP, we will ensure the correct documents are submitted to NIHE. 

 

9. NIHE technical team will work out how much grant-aid they can approve. 

 

Once you send NIHE the documents we requested, our technical team will use the basic approved plan to calculate the amount of grant-aid. The amount of grant-aid approved is based on a ‘Schedule of Rates’ which reflect fair market rates and is used by all Technical Officers when costing grant work. You will receive an itemised List of Grant-Aided Works, with details of the amount of grant-aid the Housing Executive has approved. This will fulfill the OT’s recommendation. The total amount for the items on this list, including the allowed fees, is the total grant-aid approved, minus any contribution you may be expected to make (see step 4). Any works which are classed as ‘enhanced’ are not grant-aided. It is your responsibility to pay your contractor for these works. 

 

If your appointed contractor quotes a higher price than the total grant-aid approved, you must arrange to pay the difference. It is important to note there is no grant-aid for redecoration and items may not be replaced ‘like for like’. For example, if doors are removed to improve wheelchair user access, we will not replace these doors ‘like for like’. We will provide an amount of grant-aid as per the schedule of rates to install wider doors. If you wish to hang doors which cost more than the grant-aid awarded, then this is classed as ‘enhanced’. It is your responsibility to pay your contractor the extra amount. 

 

10. NIHE will send you an approval pack and you can appoint a contractor to start the work. 

 

This pack gives you a clear breakdown of the offer of grant-aid and detailed notes to help explain the remainder of the grants process. Please read the approval letter and accompanying notes carefully. From the date on the approval pack letter, you have six months to start work and twelve months to complete. If you do not start or complete works within the time frames specified your grant is at risk of being cancelled. If your works cost over £10,000, you must appoint a warranted builder or put a written contract in place with your chosen contractor. Within the approval pack, your Case Officer will request documents that are required to proceed with your grant. It is your responsibility to send completed information to us when needed. This will ensure prompt payment of the grant at interim and final payment stages. If you have any questions, please contact your Case Officer. 

 

11. Payment of grant-aid, a Technical Officer will visit your home to inspect work before a payment is made. 

 

Once work has started your contractor may request a payment when some work has been completed. Interim payments are based on the amount of work completed. At a minimum, 25% of the grant-aided works must be completed to enable the Housing Executive to make a payment. You should complete the ‘Interim Payment Claim form’ and ‘Payment of Grant Monies form’ from your approval pack and send them to your Case Officer. Your Technical Officer will visit your home to make sure enough of the grant-aided works have been satisfactorily completed to allow an interim payment to be made. It is your responsibility to ensure you are satisfied with the quality of the works completed. 

 

REMINDER: The Housing Executive administers grant-aid. NIHE do not get involved in contractual issues between applicants and their chosen contractor. 

 

12. Final payment can be made when all required documentation has been submitted and your OT is content that the completed work meets the recommendation. 

 

When you tell us that your work is completed your Technical Officer will carry out a final inspection. They will visit your home to make sure the grant aided works have been completed. Your OT must also visit and confirm that the work completed is satisfactory to meet their recommendation. If the Technical Officer or your OT believes that the works are not satisfactorily completed, a snag list will be created and issued to you. The issues identified must be resolved by your contractor before final payment is made. Once any snags are completed, our Technical Officer and your OT have signed of the works and you have sent us all required documentation (e.g. Building Control Completion Certificate), the final payment can be processed. 

 

REMINDER: The Technical Officer’s inspection is to ensure you that the grant-aided works have been completed. We do not inspect the quality of the works; this is your responsibility. 

 

This will complete your grant journey.