Summary: We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint that the Council failed to properly consider her daughter’s application for a blue badge. There is not enough evidence of fault to justify an investigation.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complains the Council wrongly refused her daughter, Miss Y’s, blue badge renewal application. Mrs X says Miss Y has had a blue badge for 20 years and her disability has not changed. Mrs X says they need a blue badge because Miss Y needs frequent, urgent stops.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate complaints of injustice caused by ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. I have used the word fault to refer to these. We consider whether there was fault in the way an organisation made its decision. If there was no fault in how the organisation made its decision, we cannot question the outcome. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), as amended)
3. We do not start or continue an investigation if we decide there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

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How I considered this complaint

4. I considered information provided by the complainant.
5. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

6. The Council rejected Miss Y’s most recent application for a blue badge. The assessor said there was not enough evidence under the ‘hidden disabilities’ criteria to suggest a severe cognitive impairment or challenging behaviours when undertaking a journey. The assessor suggested Mrs X needed to submit evidence from a qualified medical or social services professional to support Miss Y’s application.
7. We will not investigate this complaint. The Council considered the information Mrs X submitted and provided an explanation of why this was not sufficient for Miss Y to qualify for a blue badge. Without fault in the decision-making process, we cannot criticise the decision itself.

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Final decision

8. We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because there is not enough evidence of fault to justify an investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman