Response from CEO Martin Warhurst on the NPPF & accessible housing | Latest news

The Government’s finalised National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF), published on 17 August 2026, marks a significant milestone for accessible housing because, for the first time, it includes a national requirement that applies across all planning authorities to deliver new accessible homes.

However, the new policy requires only a minimum of 40% of homes in major developments to meet the M4(2) accessible and adaptable standard. In practice, this means an average minimum of 36% of new homes, because around 10% of development takes place on a smaller scale.

Habinteg, urged strongly that 40% will be an insufficient requirement and it’s frustrating to see a finalised policy that falls so short of the decisive action needed to future-proof England's housing stock.

In July 2022, the previous Government announced plans to require all new homes to meet the M4(2) standard. Given the growing demand for accessible housing, it is disappointing that this goal has been dropped, particularly in light of the benefits it could bring to individuals, families and wider society.

As we tackle a seemingly intractable social care crisis the NPPF was a golden opportunity to leverage the positive impact that accessible housing can have on demand for health and care services.

Our Forecast for accessible homes 2025 has shown that many local plans already require more than 40% of new homes to be built to accessible standards, and despite wording tweaks in the rules saying that plan policies should be devised to ‘meet or exceed local needs’, we at Habinteg are very concerned that local planning authorities will in practice use this as a target, rather than a minimum threshold.

The Government’s 2015 calculations, updated for inflation, suggests that a three-bedroom semi-detached house built to M4(2) standards, would cost just £742 more to build than its less accessible neighbour. A price tag like this is small compared with the long-term costs of inaccessible housing to individuals, the NHS, social care and the economy. Accessible housing enables disabled people to manage daily tasks with dignity and independence, seek employment, and actively participate in their communities.

The new framework also continues to see wheelchair users at an even greater disadvantage by leaving planning authorities to include or exclude wheelchair accessible properties from their delivery targets. In effect, a local plan could meet the requirements of the NPPF by delivering 36% of its housing target to the M4(2) standard while leaving out wheelchair user homes altogether.

M4(2) homes are adaptable properties that are accessible for a wide range of people but they’re not a long-term substitute for homes designed to meet wheelchair user’s requirements. Therefore, we believe it’s critical that every local plan defines what proportion of its new homes must meet the M4(3) wheelchair user standard.

I’ve seen this point illustrated in the story of disability rights advocate and Habinteg Insight Group member, Luis Canto E Castro – a wheelchair user. He and his family weren’t eligible for the Disabled Facilities Grant, so had to fund adaptations themselves, through a bank loan of over £20,000. While the family was raising the funds and the work,his care provider refused to lift his wheelchair over external thresholds or into the bathroom shower due to the health and safety risk, so he couldn’t have a shower or go out without the assistance of family.

Had Luis been able to buy a wheelchair-user home from the outset he could have avoided the stress of living in an inaccessible home and its impact on his career as well as the personal financial burden of major adaptations. Longer term, the property would have met not only his access requirements but those of future generations of disabled households too.

Even if local authorities are best placed to understand the proportion of new homes that are needed to be built to accessible standards, without requiring a specific policy statement on M4(3) homes, we risk exacerbating the housing post code lottery that exists right now for wheelchair users. 

We urge the government to monitor closely the impact of the new framework and recommend they look out for all the real-life factors such as delayed hospital discharges and disabled people’s employment rates.

Our fear is that without firmer requirements to condition the M4(2) and M4(3) standards, the gap between supply and demand will only widen, leaving thousands of disabled people in unsuitable housing bearing the brunt with their health and wellbeing, careers, family relationships and finances, whilst driving ever more demand toward over stretched health and social care services.

Image: Habinteg CEO, Martin Warhurst (left) sits and talks with a Habinteg tenant in her living room, during a visit to Bramston Close, Essex.