The majority of Preston families who need to adapt their homes to help them care for disabled children face “significant shortfalls” in the financial support they will receive from the state, it has been claimed.
A motion put forward by two Liberal Democrat councillors to increase funding for families living with disabilities was voted down at a Preston City Council meeting.
On Thursday 16 April, Cllr Fiona Duke was the first to propose increasing the statutory Disabled Facilities Grant (DFG) limit to £50,000, with the motion then seconded by Cllr Julie Van Mierlo.
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The Liberal Democrat main opposition group at the town hall warned that the funding provided would be insufficient in most cases – and blamed a recent policy change in Preston that reduced the maximum amount that could be awarded from £50,000 to £30,000.
However, the Labour administration defended the new cap, claiming that it enabled more people to receive help under a scheme that had previously been running out of money in the first half of each year.
Local authorities receive national funding to distribute means-tested DFGs in their areas. They are obliged to pay out up to £30k to eligible applicants – a figure that has not increased since 2008 – but they can choose to make discretionary ‘top-up’ payments beyond that amount.
There are currently 21 complex paediatric cases across Preston awaiting DFG support, most of which are expected to face a significant shortfall.
Cllr Duke described the plight of a family whose grant fell £42,000 short of the amount required to safely adapt their house to include a wet-room and downstairs bedroom, leading to the mother in the family selling her children’s toys to fundraise.
She said: “I’m appalled that a family in Preston in such a desperate situation isn’t getting the help that they need from this council; how humiliating is it to sell your children’s toys to try and fill an enormous funding gap?”
Cllr Van Mierlo added: “Home adaptations for children and adults with complex needs are essential for safety, dignity, physical and mental health – the adaptations are not a luxury or a lifestyle choice.
“Without them some are forced into residential care, and hospital discharges are frequently delayed because it’s not safe for [people] to go home.”
Responding to the criticism, cabinet member for health and wellbeing Cllr Zafar Coupland said she was “totally sympathetic” to the case raised – and said the ruling group had put an extra £500k of local funding into the DFG pot at last month’s budget.
“We just don’t have enough money to make [discretionary payments],” Cllr Coupland added.
In the 2024/25 financial year, DFG in Preston was overspent by almost £294k – an amount that had to be clawed back over the following 12 months. The decision to end to discretionary payments was taken in order to avert another overspend in 2025/26.
The annual DFG budget in Preston for each of the next four years is expected to be £2.1m – excluding the £500k boost added for 2026/27.
During a testy debate in which claims of political gameplaying abounded, Lib Dem group leader John Potter accused Labour of having enough money “to mess around with a bank”, but not to put it into DFGs. That was a reference to a decision taken earlier in the meeting to commit £750k to help establish the new North West Mutual community bank, which is to be headquartered in the city.
In turn, Labour council leader Matthew Brown branded the Liberal Democrats hypocritical for bringing their motion during the pre-election ‘purdah’ period – when controversial matters are not usually determined – having criticised Labour for deciding on the bank funding during the run-up to next month’s city vote.
He said he was “open to a conversation” with Cllr Duke about DFG outside of the council chamber, adding: “Obviously we’re not without compassion…but we are dealing with recovering from 14 years of austerity – and we can’t do everything that we’d like to do within this council.”
Conservative group leader Harry Landless said his immediate instinct was to want to “wave a magic wand” to “help these families out” – but he added he recognised the situation was complicated and that there had been some “commitment” from Labour to look into it further.
The council’s lone Reform UK member, Stephen Thompson, echoed that sentiment, but accused the Lib Dems of raising individual residents’ issues for “political reasons”.
The motion was defeated by 22 votes to 15, with five abstentions.
The testy atmosphere from the debate spilled over onto social media in the aftermath, courtesy of the Preston Labour accounts.
A post pointed out Labour’s commitment to an extra £500,000 in the budget and said it reflected that ‘Preston Labour are wholly empathetic to the plight of disabled adults and children living in unsuitable housing.’
It attacked the Lib Dems for not including extra funds for the scheme in its budget amendment in March and drew attention to the Lib Dem’s role in coalition government from 2010 to 2015 which resulted in local government funding being cut.
It concluded: “This is the kind of sickening politics and media that Labour are up against.”
In response to that statement, which had to be sent to her because her account has been blocked by Preston Labour’s X account, Cllr Duke told Blog Preston: “To not even ask Government to raise the funding for those with complex disabilities in Preston is letting some of the most vulnerable people in our society down.
“They are left struggling in unsafe, and often unsanitary, conditions in their homes, or facing the prospect of being put into care homes, away from their loved ones.
“Preston Labour have made the wrong call on this issue. I will continue to work with Maya Ellis MP’s team to ensure the DFG grant amount issue is raised with Ministers as a matter of urgency for Preston’s residents.”
Additional reporting by Paul Faulkner.
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