Around 1.9 million households in England had one or more people with a health condition that required adaptations to their home, according to the latest English Homes Survey findings.

In 2019/20, 8 per cent of all households in England (1.9 million) had at least one person with a long-standing physical or mental health condition and said that they required adaptations to their home. This has not changed since 2014/15.

Most households that required adaptations felt their home was suitable for their needs.

In 2019/20, 81 per cent of households that required adaptations to their home due to their health condition felt their home was suitable for their needs. The 19 per cent of households (374,000) that required adaptations and who considered their accommodation unsuitable accounted for 2 per cent of all households in England. This has not changed since 2014/15.

Younger people were more likely than older people to report that their accommodation was unsuitable for their needs and were more likely to want to move to more suitable accommodation.

Households with a person aged under 55 that required adaptations were more likely to report that their accommodation was unsuitable (30 per cent) than those that required adaptations in older age groups (20 per cent or less). Households with a person aged 75 or over that required adaptations were least likely to state their accommodation was unsuitable (13 per cent).

Overall, 17 per cent of households with someone under 55 that required adaptations wanted to move to more suitable accommodation compared with 12 per cent of households with someone aged 55 to 64 years and 7 per cent or less for those aged 65 or over.

High levels of unsuitable properties

Owner-occupiers who required adaptations were less likely to say that their home was unsuitable for their needs.

In 2019/20, 17 per cent of owner-occupiers that required adaptations reported that their accommodation was unsuitable for their needs. By comparison, 25 per cent of private renters, 25 per cent of local authority renters and 21 per cent of housing association renters that required adaptations said that their home was unsuitable for their needs.

The most common adaptation needed inside the home was hand or grab rails in the kitchen or bathroom.

In total, 42 per cent of households that required adaptations reported that they needed a hand or grab rail in their kitchen or bathroom, representing around 819,000 households.

The number of households that reported that they did not have all the adaptations that they needed has increased.

In 2019/20, 47 per cent of households that required adaptations had all the adaptations they needed in their home. Consequently, 53 per cent (1 million) of households did not have all the adaptations that they needed, an increase since 2014/15 when 45 per cent (864,000) of households that required adaptations lacked one or more of the adaptations they needed.

Middle-income households were most likely to not have all the adaptations they needed.

In 2019/20, 63 per cent of households in the middle income quintile did not have all the adaptations that they needed. By comparison, 51 per cent of households in the lowest income quintile and 52 per cent of households in the highest income quintile reported that they not have all the adaptations they needed.

By Patrick Mooney, Editor