Establishing Ordinary Residence (Occupational Therapy)

If you have not already done so you must confirm a person's ordinary residence status before:

1. providing any equipment or minor adaptations under the duty to prevent, reduce or delay needs;
2. providing any equipment or adaptations under the duty to meet eligible needs; or
3. supporting the person to make a Disabled Facilities Grant application under the HGCRA.

Legally it is the responsibility of the Local Authority to meet the eligible needs of:

1. a person who is ordinarily resident in the area; or
2. a person who has no settled residence and is present in the area.

See what the Care Act says about Ordinary Residence, including understanding what ordinary residence is, how/when to establish ordinary residence and how/when to meet the needs of those who are not ordinarily resident in the area.

Tri.x has developed a tool to support decision making around ordinary residence.

See: Ordinary Residence Decision Support Tool.

The ordinary residence decision tool is a helpful starting point but it cannot deal with some of the complexities of ordinary residence. Where another local authority is challenging ordinary residence, it is important that you make contact with the Legal Department with a chronology of the individual’s circumstances so that the individual’s ordinary residence can be clarified.

Also see the Ordinary Residence Procedure.

After accessing the available information in these procedures, you should speak to your line manager if you are unclear about:

1. the ordinary residence status of the person; or
2. whether to commence arranging equipment or adaptations based upon ordinary residence status.