‘I’ve to bathe on the health club’

On a chilly and moist night, Sam Lewis walks to her native health club for a bathe. It’s a painful and sluggish journey, utilizing a strolling stick.

The 34-year-old’s rheumatoid arthritis means she dangers falling when climbing into the tub in her flat. Easy adjustments equivalent to seize rails or a walk-in bathe would make it safer, however two councils have didn’t assess her in her rented properties.

Disabled and aged residents could be entitled to funding – whether or not owners, personal renters or housing affiliation tenants – for adjustments starting from stairlifts and accessible loos, to structural extensions.

Funding housing variations can get monetary savings long-term by decreasing the necessity for social care and assuaging the burden on the NHS.

In England, 95% of routine variations ought to take not than six months – the federal government says – with all however essentially the most advanced jobs accomplished inside 9 months.

However the common completion time has risen 18% over the previous 5 years, figures obtained by the BBC present.

It now stands at 357 days in areas of England, Wales and Northern Eire the place work is overseen by a single council, or in Northern Eire’s case – the Housing Government.

Northern Eire has the worst delays, with common variations taking almost two-and-a-half years to finish.

Scotland has a distinct funding mannequin – so shouldn’t be comparable by way of knowledge.

Sam, a non-public renter in London, says she has by no means seen a totally accessible property obtainable throughout on-line searches.

The three flats she has rented have all had showers over baths. However when her situation is at its worst, her legs are too stiff to elevate over the aspect.

“I really feel very anxious about slipping,” says Sam, who has beforehand sustained accidents from falls.

If she can’t climb into the tub, however can handle the stroll, Sam showers at her native health club. She says she has made the journey simply to bathe 150 occasions in 4 years.

“It has a extremely unfavorable influence in your self-image and your time,” she says.

It’s greater than 4 years since she says she first utilized for assist, whereas in her first rental. Councils ought to perform a “person-centred” evaluation to establish whether or not people qualify. Landlords can’t refuse an adaptation with out good motive.

With out the variations, Sam worries her debilitative situation will grow to be worse, extra rapidly. This is able to make staying in work more and more troublesome.

There’s a push by the federal government to get disabled folks into employment, she says, but it surely looks like “no-one’s there to assist” cut back the limitations.

The system is beneath pressure, say housing adaptation specialists and councils. Demand will solely intensify within the coming years – they are saying – with the aged inhabitants rising and an already obvious rise in advanced circumstances involving youngsters with particular wants.

There are nonetheless circumstances ongoing after 5 years or extra in at the very least 21 native council areas of England and Wales – the BBC has discovered. Some 240 of 317 authorities responded to our Freedom of Data requests.

In Staffordshire, seven-year-old Emilia has a uncommon genetic situation known as PTEN hamartoma tumour syndrome. She has a studying incapacity, hypermobility, is doubly incontinent, and is extra prone to cancers.

If she climbed the steps alone, to succeed in the lavatory or her bed room, she would fall.

Her mum Claire has harm to her backbone, but has to prop her daughter up with each step – risking paralysis if she bears an excessive amount of weight.

“I am at all times frightened [if my back gives way] that we will finish down on the backside of the steps,” she says.

Claire’s spinal damage means she is not capable of assist Emilia right into a stairlift and so, in July 2022, the household – who’re Housing Affiliation tenants – have been assessed as requiring an extension for a downstairs bed room and bathe room.

“Months and months glided by when no one [at the council] would reply the telephone,” says Claire.

The utmost quantity councils can present beneath the Disabled Amenities Grant in England, set by authorities, is £30,000. That is means-tested for adults, however not for youngsters, and is presently beneath assessment.

In Claire and Emilia’s case, the estimated value of the extension is £60,000, which they imagine prompted the delays. “It is all about cash,” she says.

If councils find the money for of their residence variations funds they’ll select to offer additional funding, however not all do. Social companies can present monetary help too.

Two-and-a-half years on, constructing work is ready to start quickly.

Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council stated this was a “advanced case” and that it had wanted to “resolve extra funding and get the required permissions to increase the property”.

It says it’s working to scale back delays. Different councils are taking steps too.

In Gloucestershire, NHS occupational therapist Neil Withnell is working with six native authorities to hurry up circumstances – coaching extra employees for assessments and offering additional funding for folks on decrease incomes.

Diversifications, he says, could be “life-changing”.

England’s adaption system is now being expanded, growing by £86m to £711m, aimed toward permitting 7,800 extra folks to entry help.

However the Native Authorities Affiliation, which speaks for native councils, says the additional funding “doesn’t sort out the underlying points”, amid rising demand, a scarcity of occupational therapists to hold out assessments and wider funding pressures.

The federal government advised the BBC that whereas “many councils” in England are assembly authorized necessities, “delays are unacceptable”.

Incapacity campaigners say the federal government should now take motion to assist personal tenants, like Sam.

Ten councils didn’t full a single adaptation for a non-public renter final 12 months, knowledge obtained by the BBC has discovered. Official figures present 16% of working-age disabled folks dwell in privately-rented properties.

One in every of Sam’s earlier native authorities, Ealing, carried out greater than 1,300 residence variations between April 2019 and March 2023, but solely three have been for personal tenants.

“I am not shocked in any respect” says Sam, who believes many will concern being evicted by a landlord for even asking for an adaptation.

The federal government says its forthcoming Renters’ Rights Invoice in England will permit tenants to problem landlords who refuse variations with out concern of retaliatory eviction.

Ealing Council stated “all Disabled Amenities Grant functions are assessed on benefit and eligibility”.

Having not too long ago moved to a brand new space, Sam is making use of for an adaptation for a 3rd time. The council have been in contact. “I am feeling quietly optimistic,” she says.