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Joyce Watson hits out at 'completely unacceptable' wait for grants

A west Wales Assembly member has condemned Pembrokeshire County Council for 'taking too long' to deliver Disabled Facilities Grants.

Statistics released this month showed that it takes the authority on average 624 days to deliver grants to disabled people - nearly double the Welsh national average.

Former Pembrokeshire County Councillor and regional Assembly Member Joyce Watson branded the figures "completely unacceptable," and added: "No-one should have to wait nearly two years for these adaptations to their home."

Under current conditions, a disabled person can apply for a grant of up to £36,000 for essential adaptation of their home.

This includes: Providing ramped access to the property; Access to or providing a room with facilities like a toilet, shower and wash hand basin; Access to enable the cooking of food; Providing heating, lighting or power; Making a dwelling or building safe for a disabled person.

Mrs Watson said: "I am alarmed that it is taking on average nearly two years to deliver this much needed grant to disabled people.

"This can seriously impact on a person's life and is completely unacceptable. Pembrokeshire's performance compares unfavourably to Carmarthenshire Council's commendable performance. They take on average 349 days - well below the national average.

"I will be writing to Pembrokeshire County Council to express my concerns, and to find out what plans are underway to improve their delivery of service."

The county council told the Mercury it had recognised the need to improve delivery of the grants for some time and said considerable progress had been made.

Since the figures were released, the actual time was down to an average of 547 days.

A spokesman added: "We aim to continue that progress to provide better outcomes for our residents.

"We have for some time questioned the appropriateness of making comparisons of performance across local authorities, given the wide range of interpretations of this performance indicator, direct comparisons of performance should be treated with caution."