Aids and adaptations
Aids and adaptations: Christine's story
Our current campaign on aids and adaptations
For people with arthritis, aids and adaptations can improve quality of life and empower people to live independently at home.
However, despite policy being in place to ensure good provision of home aids and adaptations, with the system increasingly under pressure, people with arthritis are living without them. We want to ensure people with musculoskeletal conditions are able to access what they need.
Room to Manoeuvre report (PDF 1.1 MB) is looking at how aids and adaptations support people with arthritis to lead more independent lives and gives our recommendations for improving the current system.
You can take action now by sharing our report with your MP, it should only take a couple of minutes but could make a big difference.
Know your Rights
In England, local councils must provide aids and minor adaptations costing £1000 or less free of change to anyone with an eligible care need. Your council may call this community equipment.
An eligible care need is one that arises from a physical or mental illness, where you are unable to achieve two or more outcomes of daily living such as eating, washing or going to the toilet and that has a significant impact on your wellbeing.
You can request a needs assessment from your council to see if you would be eligible for aids and adaptations. You can apply for a needs assessment and find out more here: https://www.gov.uk/apply-needs-assessment-social-services.
To read more about your rights you can download our information sheets:
Know your rights: Social Care* (PDF, 185 KB)
Know your rights: Disabled Facilities Grants (PDF, 105 KB)
*please be aware that this covers social care in England only. For information on social care in Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland, please get in touch with your local Citizens Advice:
Wales: https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/wales/
Northern Ireland: https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/about-us/northern-ireland/