![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/0_GettyImages-1358031826.jpg\")
A disabled person in a hme setting.(Image: GETTY)<\/p>\nA review of the Northern Ireland Housing Executive funding has been requested by a Lisburn and Castlereagh City Council councillor this weekA disabled person in a hme setting.(Image: GETTY)<\/p>\n
Disability grants are to be scrutinised over concerns vulnerable people are being left short-changed with “sky-rocketing” costs to adapt homes.<\/a><\/p>\n A review of the Northern Ireland Housing Executive funding has been requested by a Lisburn and Castlereagh City Council<\/a> councillor this week.<\/p>\n Concerns of “discrepancies” between the amount of a grant awarded compared to labour costs was raised in chambers as the NIHE referred to eye-watering “six figure sums” in the system.<\/p>\n READ MORE: Tree pod burials could be offered as climate friendly option.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n READ MORE: Council will be accountable for damage amid memorial bench replacement.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Downshire East Alliance Alderman<\/a>, Aaron McIntyre said:”On disabled facilities grant, since last year I found that there was an increasing discrepancy of what is awarded and and what the actual costs are coming in at for those who have applied for the grants.<\/p>\n “The difference can be several thousand pounds and many of these individuals are carers themselves with limited income in the household to be able to pay the discrepancy amount.<\/p>\n “Are there any plans at a strategic level to look at those awards and how they are calculated given the increased costs of labour and materials?”<\/p>\n According to its website, the NIHE<\/a> can provide a disabled facilities grant to adapt the home for a disabled person. An occupational therapist must recommend the work and can recommend improved access for home areas such as bathrooms and bedrooms.<\/p>\n Awards can be up to \u00a335k and in some cases can be increased to a maximum of \u00a370k. Applications for disabled facilities grants must be made through Health Trusts.<\/p>\n NIHE director of housing services, Jennifer Hawthorne responded:”I will be very happy to provide the figure for you, but I wouldn’t have it at hand now.<\/p>\n “But, you are absolutely right. Costs for disabled facilities grants as well as costs for adaptations to Housing Executive stock (homes) have absolutely sky-rocketed and we are seeing six figure sums coming in.”<\/p>\n For all the latest news, visit the Belfast Live homepage<\/strong> here<\/a> and sign up to our daily newsletter<\/a> here<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A review of the Northern Ireland Housing Executive funding has been requested by a Lisburn and Castlereagh City…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":453750,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5011],"tags":[6416,83641,1144,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-453749","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-northern-ireland","8":"tag-alliance-party","9":"tag-lisburn-city-and-castlereagh-district-council","10":"tag-northern-ireland","11":"tag-uk","12":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115272804319197922","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/453749","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=453749"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/453749\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/453750"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=453749"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=453749"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=453749"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"An](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/2_Paying-with-British-currency.jpg\")
Changes to disability benefits have been announced by the UK Government.(Image: Getty Images)<\/p>\n