Accessible bathroom: adapting it for the person who uses it

Before choosing products, ask your council's adult social care team, or children's services for a child, about an assessment by an occupational therapist. They look at how the person gets in and out of the room, on and off the toilet and in and out of the shower, and recommend specific changes. That recommendation is usually what a council needs before it considers a Disabled Facilities Grant, and it gives the bathroom company a clear brief.

If you go ahead privately, you can still ask for an assessment, and a good company will want to see it. It stops you paying for a design that looks accessible but does not suit the person, such as a shower seat on the wrong side or a basin too deep to reach from a wheelchair.

The most common change is replacing a bath with a level access shower: a floor that falls gently to a drain, with no step or tray edge to trip over. On a timber floor this may mean cutting into or strengthening the joists to create the fall, and on a solid floor, breaking out the screed. The whole floor and lower walls must be waterproofed before tiling or sheet flooring goes down.

Other common work includes grab rails fixed into solid backing, a raised or wall-hung toilet at the right height, a wash and dry toilet, a thermostatic shower that limits the water temperature, a basin that can be reached while seated, lever taps, a door that opens outwards or slides, and lighting and pull cords that can be reached. Wider doorways may be needed for a wheelchair, which can mean changing a stud wall.

• the occupational therapist's recommendations, if you have them
• floor build-up, falls and where the drain goes
• waterproofing of the floor and walls in the wet area
• blocking or backing boards for every grab rail and seat
• shower valve type and how hot water is limited
• door width and direction of opening
• electrical work, including any new circuit for a shower or toilet

In England, Wales and Northern Ireland, a Disabled Facilities Grant from the council can fund adaptations such as a level access shower and grab rails. Owners, tenants and landlords can apply. The council needs to agree that the work is necessary, appropriate, reasonable and practicable for the property, and it must give a decision within 6 months. Do not let work start before the grant is approved, because you may then get no grant at all.

The council may ask for an architect or surveyor to plan and oversee larger jobs, and the grant can go towards their fees. Planning permission or Building Regulations approval, if needed, are separate applications. In Scotland, Disabled Facilities Grants are not available, so contact the council about support for equipment and adaptations.

Source: gov.uk

HMRC's VAT Notice 701/7 allows the services of providing, extending or adapting a bathroom, washroom or lavatory to be zero-rated where the work is necessary to suit the condition of a disabled person in their private residence. A shower or wet room counts as a bathroom. Work that goes with it, such as plumbing, electrics, drainage and retiling the immediate area, can be included. The customer, or someone acting for them, gives the business a written eligibility declaration.

For someone aged 60 or over who does not qualify on those grounds, some items supplied and installed in their own home, including grab rails, built-in shower seats and walk-in baths with sealable doors, are charged at the reduced rate of VAT instead. General building work in the home is not covered by that reduced rate.

Needs often change. A few extra decisions now can avoid a second refit: backing boards in the walls where rails may be wanted later, a floor that could take a shower chair or commode, a toilet position that leaves space for a carer, and a door that can be widened without moving pipes. Ask the company to show these on the drawing, even if nothing is fitted there yet.

You describe the room, the changes you have in mind and whether a grant is being applied for, and confirm your phone number and email address. Bathroom businesses in your area see it without your name or contact details, and one business can buy it. It is then no longer offered to anyone else. We email you the business's name, address and phone number before it sees your details. There is no guarantee any business takes it, and unsold requests are withdrawn after 21 days. Offrano checks that buyers are registered businesses, but not their experience with adaptations, so ask to see similar work.