DISABLED residents across the borough are being left with inadequate and unsafe facilities because of a shortage of funds to pay for home adaptations.

Councils are required to provide the disabled facilities grants by law, subject to an assessment of need and a means test.

The grants, which are given to tenants, are used to pay for improvements such as showers and wheelchair ramps.

But Waltham Forest Council has received £37,000 less for disabled facilities grants in 2009/10 and due to the property market slump there is less money from capital receipts to top up the grants fund.

This means the council is unable to award as many grants, meaning many tenants are unable to make their homes disabled-friendly.

Linda Milton, chief executive of the Waltham Forest Housing Association, said at least eight of the association's tenants are waiting for much-needed improvements to their homes.

She said: “It is a terrible situation. We have people with disabilites who live in homes which occupational therapists have said need improvements, but they have been left without them.

“We have not been kept informed of what is happening, we can pay for anything up to £1,000 but we are simply not in a position to fund larger pieces of work.”

It is believed there could be dozens of tenants across the borough who urgently need improvements to their homes.

Doris Vickers, 87, is housebound and occupational health therapists decided her bath needs to be replaced by a level access shower for safety reasons.

But her son Alan, who is trying to obtain the grant for the work, has been told there is no money available, and the situation won’t be reviewed until April 2010.

Mr Vickers said: “I am very worried about her safety, she is unsteady on her legs.

“I am just waiting for a phone call from somebody to say she has had a fall.

“There does not seem to be any initiative from the council to get things done for older people.

Iain Duncan Smith, Chingford MP, said: “I am appalled that something cannot be done, one look at what Doris has is enough to tell you of the need for urgent action.

“Doris is elderly and could easily slip and fall. This council should be ashamed of itself.”

Mr Duncan Smith submitted a written parliamentary question asking the Government what it is doing to end the “suspension” of the grants in Waltham Forest.

Iain Wright, local government minister, said: “Suspending disabled facilities grants is not an acceptable means of budget management.”

He said the Government had doubled funds available for the grants since 1997 to £156m.

He added: “Local authorities are expected to prioritise these services and contribute towards the cost of disabled facilities grants as they always have done.”

Mr Wright did not say what steps the Government would be prepared to take if the situation was not rectified.

A council spokesman said the grants had not been suspended altogether.

Cllr Liz Phillips, the council’s cabinet member for health, adults and older people, said: “The council is currently exploring other sources of funding from its service budgets to transfer to home adaptations.”

She added: “Additionally, the council is scheduled to tender for a Home Improvement Agency later this year, which will provide a convenient one-stop housing support service for vulnerable residents.”