• The complaint
• The Ombudsman’s role and powers
• How I considered this complaint
• What I found
• Final decision

The Ombudsman's final decision:

Summary: The Council failed to properly consider Mrs X’s application for a blue badge. It wrongly reported Mrs X to have walked at a normal pace and speed when the evidence shows she walked at a very slow speed and stopped to complain of chest pain and dizziness.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complains about the way the Council dealt with her application for a blue badge.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word fault to refer to these. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint. I refer to this as ‘injustice’. If there has been fault which has caused an injustice, we may suggest a remedy. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26(1) and 26A(1), as amended)
3. If we are satisfied with a council’s actions or proposed actions, we can complete our investigation and issue a decision statement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 30(1B) and 34H(i), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

4. I have considered the complaint, and supporting information provided by Mrs X, which includes correspondence between her and the Council. I have considered the Council’s assessment of Mrs X’s mobility, and its response to her appeal. I have also taken account of relevant legislation. Both Mrs X and the Council have had the opportunity to comment on a draft of this document.

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What I found

Relevant legislation

The Blue Badge schemes

5. The Blue Badge scheme is to help disabled people with severe mobility problems access goods and services by allowing them to park near their destination. The scheme provides parking concessions for blue badge holders. Councils are responsible for the day-to-day administration and enforcement of the scheme. This includes assessing whether people are eligible for a badge
6. The guidance says that people who can walk 80 metres and do not demonstrate very considerable difficulty in walking are not eligible for a badge. Councils should take into account factors such as pain, speed, balance, gait and shortness of breath when assessing if someone can walk 80 metres. The guidance says that people who walk slowly will not be eligible if that is the only qualifying factor.
7. New rules came into force on 30 August 2019. These are designed to make it easier for people with problems that are not exclusively linked to the physical act of walking to qualify for a badge.

What happened

8. Mrs X applied to the Council for a blue badge in July 2019. In her application she says she is unable to walk because she is disabled, and that she needs to be able to park near to a toilet due to her disabilities. She provided a letter from her GP. The letter states Mrs X has ‘a number of medical conditions’, including chronic gastrointestinal problems which cause her to experience faecal urgency.
9. The Council arranged for Mrs X to have a mobility assessment on 2 August 2019. The assessor reported Mrs X walked 80 metres in 2.5 minutes, and that she stopped walking and complained of chest pain and dizziness from 30 metres. Mrs X told the assessor she was undergoing investigations for a heart condition. The assessor reported Mrs X to have a ‘normal walking pattern’ and walked at a ‘normal speed’, that there was no excessive slowness or labour and Mrs X was able to walk and talk. Mrs X was reported to have ‘multiple sustained disabilities’ and she provided evidence to support this.
10. The Council wrote to Mrs X on 6 August 2019 to say it had received the mobility assessment report from the assessor and her application for a blue badge was unsuccessful. It said Mrs X would receive a copy of the report in due course.
11. Mrs X submitted an appeal to the Council on 4 September 2019. She did not believe the Council had properly consider her medical conditions.
12. The Council wrote to Mrs X on 25 September 2019 to inform her the appeal was not upheld. The author of the letter said Mrs X had been “observed to walk the distance of 80 metres in 2.5 minutes, you were not observed to be breathless and maintained conversation throughout. You were not observed to walk with excessive labour or slowness and chose to carry your walking stick rather than use it for support”. The author acknowledged Mrs X had provided evidence of ‘multiple sustained disabilities’ but the mobility assessor concluded Mrs X’s level of difficulty fell below the Department for Transport definition of ‘very considerable difficulty walking’. The author also acknowledged Mrs X often needed to use the toilet urgently but said this was not a qualifying criterion.

Analysis

13. It is not my role to decide whether Mr X is eligible for a blue badge or give a view about the degree to which she meets the relevant criteria. My role is to consider whether the Council followed the correct process in coming to a decision.
14. The assessor’s notes of Mrs X’s mobility assessment are somewhat contradictory. The assessor says Mrs X walked at a normal speed without stopping, but the mobility assessment records Mrs X walked 80 metres in 2.5 minutes, this equates to 32 metres per minute, which is a very slow speed. I am unsure why the assessor recorded this a ‘normal speed’. The Council failed to account for this in its decision.
15. The assessment also shows Mrs X did stop walking during the mobility assessment and complained of chest pain and dizziness. The Council failed to account for this in its decision
16. The assessment is flawed. The Council’s consideration of the appeal is also flawed. It failed to address the above issues.
17. The Council’s fault caused Mrs X an injustice because she was denied the opportunity of having her application for a blue badge properly considered. She has also been put to time and trouble pursuing the complaint.

Agreed action

18. The Council will within four weeks of the final decision, carry out a review of the decision not to grant a blue badge. Rather than conducting a fresh mobility assessment, the Council will review the decision by:

• taking account of the notes the assessor made about the pace and speed at which Mrs X walked

19. Provide evidence of the above to this office.

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Final decision

20. The Council failed to properly consider Mrs X’s application for a blue badge. It wrongly reported Mrs X to have walked at a normal pace and speed without stopping, when the evidence shows she walked at a very slow speed and stopped to complain of chest pain and dizziness.
21. It is on this basis; the complaint will be closed.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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