Agenda and draft minutes

Apologies for absence were submitted on behalf of Councillor Heap, L. Cox, Jean Battle and Jackie Rawstrone.

Councillor Addison acted as substitute representative for Councillor Heap.

Councillor Fisher and Matthew Shaw (Co-optee) declared a personal interest in item 4 – Disabled Facilities Grants, due to both being employees of Lancashire County Council who allocate funding to Hyndburn Borough Council.  Both remained in the meeting and took part in debate.

The Minutes of the Communities and Wellbeing Overview & Scrutiny Committee held on 13^th October 2025 are submitted for approval as a correct record.

Recommended                     -  That the Minutes be received and approved as a correct record.

The Minutes of the Communities and Wellbeing Overview & Scrutiny Committee of the meeting held 13^th October 2025 were submitted for approval as a correct record.

Resolved                               -   That the Minutes be received and approved as a correct record.

To consider the support and value of the Disabled Facility Grant service to the community.

Recommended          - That the comments be noted and actioned as required.

The Cabinet Portfolio Holder for Housing and Regeneration, Councillor Melissa Fisher, and the Regeneration Manager, Sarah Whittaker, submitted a report to update the Committee on Disabled Facilities Grants, the process, the funding received and what is delivered with the funding.  The report also updated the Committee on the current programme and waiting list times.

The Regeneration Manager explained that Disabled Facility Grants (DFGs) were:

·         Mandatory grants and delivered under the Housing Grants, Construction and Regeneration Act 1996. 

·         The Act gave local authorities a legal duty to award grants where the criteria had been met and allowed for a maximum amount to be set by the regulations. 

·         The current maximum grant had been set at £30,000 which had been in force since 2008 and no longer covered the full cost of an extension.

·         The aim of providing grants was to enable a disabled person to remain in their own home.

·         Applicants had the choice of the Council managing works on their behalf or for self-management.

·         Funding for the DFG programme became part of the Better Care Fund (BCF) in 2015/16 meaning that funding was no longer paid directly to the Local Authorities but was paid to Lancashire County Council before being distributed to individual Local Authorities.

·         The allocation of funding to Hyndburn in 2025/26 was £1,359,906.   Hyndburn Council carried forward £357,069 from 2024/25 and had a total of £1,716,975 for 2025/26. 

·         Hyndburn Council had the authority to produce its own grant policies and introduced several types of grants including Discretionary DFGs, which had removed the need for a means test for any items under £7,500 and introduced an additional £20,000 top up if people were on a low income or had low savings.  Several other grant types were also introduced to enable and encourage more people to apply for grants.

·         The policy had been reviewed again in April 2025 when the upper limit for some grants had been changed, taking the amount before means testing, from £7,500 to £10,000. 

·         Fees for non-agency grants had also been introduced (7.5% + VAT) giving the Council greater opportunity to offer more support to those carrying out works themselves.

·         218 projects were in operation and all were bespoke.

·         Occupational Therapists and Trusted Assessors were able to prescribe works.

·         The number of applications had increased as there was now greater awareness of the grants.

The Regeneration Manager referred to appendix 1 of the report – ‘Better Care Fund Allocations and Performance to end October 2025, DFG Current Performance to end October 2025 and Performance in previous years’ and explained that it was incorrect and that a new appendix would be circulated to Members after the meeting. 

Advanced Questions

Questions were submitted in advance of the meeting.  A summary of the responses was provided as follows:

1.   Does the grant funding need to be paid back if the owner dies or moves?  Is the equipment recycled or reused?

The DFG is a Grant for equipment, to that particular person, and belongs to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 232.

Presentation provided by Justine Williams and Julia Hannaford – Citizens Advice East Lancashire.

Justine Williams (CEO) and Nick Pilling (Vice-Chair of Citizens Advice East Lancashire) were in attendance at the meeting to give a presentation on the services they provided in Hyndburn and East Lancashire. 

Justine Williams delivered an update on the services of Citizens Advice, including in the Hyndburn area:

• Organisation overview:
  • Citizens Advice is a network of 280 local charities operating across 1,600 locations in England and Wales.
  • Each local office is responsible for securing its own funding.
• Service delivery channels:
  • Phone, email, webchat and face?to?face appointments.
• Citizens Advice East Lancashire:
  • A merged organisation covering Rossendale, Ribble Valley, Hyndburn, Burnley and Pendle.
  • Staff team includes 45 paid staff and 40 volunteers, including Trustee Board members.
• Hyndburn services:
  • Drop?in sessions, including at the New Era Centre.
  • Adviceline telephone service and digital advice options.
  • Team includes 6 volunteers and 8 paid staff.
  • Monthly community drop?ins at Rhyddings Family Hub.
• Project delivery in Hyndburn includes:
  • British Gas Energy drop?ins
  • Macmillan advice service for cancer patients
  • Specialist debt advice (by appointment)
  • HMRC service support (drop?in and by appointment)
• Accessibility:
  • Hyndburn residents can use any Citizens Advice East Lancashire office or community drop?in location.
• Partnership work:
  • Collaboration with Hyndburn Borough Council to deliver the Household Support Fund.
• Volunteer training:
  • The organisation is part of a national pilot introducing a new streamlined learning pathway to improve volunteer capacity.

Impact in Hyndburn (April–September 2025)

• 573 clients supported face to face
• 850 clients supported via phone or WhatsApp
• 250 clients and partners used the online contact form
• £620,000 generated in benefit gains, grants and budgeting?related savings
• £360,000 of debt written off
• A Hyndburn case study was presented (details noted).
• For every £1 of the £25,000 core contribution from Hyndburn Council, residents received £39 in value.

Members submitted the following comments and queries:

·        Concern that working people were also finding the cost of living difficult and were, increasingly, facing mounting debt.  The Committee noted that these people would benefit from being able to receive professional advice from Citizens Advice but would only be able to attend services in the evening or at weekends.

·        Request for further details about how Whatsapp worked.

·        Where Citizens Advice received their funding from.

·        There was increasing debt mounting problems and financial pressure on households.

Responses to the above issues were as follows:

·        Citizens Advice East Lancashire already had plans to extend services to rural areas.  Additional provision of out of hour services would depend on funding in relation to the cost and provision of staff.

·        The Committee would be provided with more information on the use of Whatsapp within service provision. 

·        Citizens Advice thanked the Council for their annual contributions and referred to the importance of this in keeping services available to residents in Hyndburn.  She reported that most of the organisation’s funding came from project funding and from local contributions from local authorities.

Resolved               -  That the Communities and Wellbeing Overview & Scrutiny Committee recommend that Cabinet agree to provide a minimum grant in line  ...  view the full minutes text for item 233.