Regional journalists have helped to expose disabled people’s struggles to get their homes adapted following a nationwide investigation.

Titles across the country have run stories following a probe into the issue by The Bureau Local, which is part of The Bureau of Investigative Journalism.

The project was led by Bureau Local health inequality reporters Vicky Gayle and Rachel Hamada, and involved the pair sending Freedom of Information requests to every local authority across the UK for data on disabled facilities grants and waiting times.

They found the amounts available to disabled people for home upgrades varied “wildly” across the country, while waiting times for the work to be completed can stretch beyond 18 months.

Once the analysis was complete and they were able to identify which areas may provide interesting stories, regional journalists were contacted by Vicky and Rachel via the Bureau Local Slack network, which alerts local reporters and organisers to findings by The Bureau of Investigative Journalism which may interest them.

Vicky, pictured, told HTFP: “Prior to that we’d let our Bureau Local Slack community know we were investigating home adaptations and disabled facilities grants, and asked journalists to tell us if they’d be interested in the local findings.

“The story was written some weeks before it was published, so in that time our community organiser, Emiliano Mellino, was liaising with reporters, reaching out to more outlets, and sharing the open resources we have to help them in their coverage.

“All of our public datasets are produced and managed by our data lead, Charles Boutaud. We’re still getting requests to share our data and that could happen for several more weeks.”

Regional titles to have run localised stories based on the investigation include Essex Live, the Rhyl Journal and the Southern Daily Echo, as well as The Ferret in Scotland, The National Wales and View Digital in Northern Ireland.

Vicky and Rachel also worked with Channel 4 on the project at national level.

Vicky, a former data investigations reporter at Newsquest, said the reaction to the investigation has been “touching and powerful”.

She added: “We knew from the interviews we’d done that disabled people and their families welcomed this subject being investigated deeply, as did the groups which have been supporting those people in their bids for home adaptations.

“The story has already had a tangible impact for one individual, and we’ll now be focused on making sure it continues to have impact where change can happen.

“Our figures have been reported in each UK nation – which is a first for the health inequality team – and we’re proud of all the regional coverage, and the opportunity it’s given for disabled people to speak up about what they’re experiencing. Many of them feel invisible and that’s not okay.”