Summary: The Council failed to properly consider Mrs X’s application for a blue badge and failed to offer her the opportunity to appeal its decision.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complains the Council refused her renewal 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 written complaint and discussed it with Mrs X
• considered information submitted by the Council
• taken account of relevant legislation
• offered Mrs X and the Council an opportunity to comment on a draft of this document, and considered the comments made.

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What I found

Relevant legislation

5. The Department for Transport’s (DfT) Blue Badge Scheme is to help disabled people with severe mobility problems access goods and services by allowing them or a carer to park near their destination. The scheme provides parking concessions for Blue Badge holders. Local authorities are responsible for the day-to-day administration and enforcement of the scheme. This includes assessing whether people are eligible for the badge.
6. The DfT issues Guidance to councils for providing Blue Badges to disabled people with severe mobility problems. The guidance says that councils must ensure they only issue badges to residents who satisfy one or more of the criteria set out in legislation. There are two types of eligibility criteria. One is where a person is eligible without further assessment. The other is where the person is eligible subject to further assessment.
7. In 2019, the DfT issued new guidance for councils. The main change from previous guidance was the introduction of assessment criteria to help people with severe mobility problems caused by non-visible (‘hidden’) disabilities.
8. To be eligible for a badge, those people who are eligible subject to further assessment must be more than two years old and fall within one or more of the following descriptions:

• drives a vehicle regularly, has a severe disability in both arms and is unable to operate, or has considerable difficulty in operating, all or some types of parking meter; or
• has been certified by an expert assessor as having an enduring and substantial disability which causes them, during the course of a journey, to:
• Be unable to walk;
• Experience very considerable difficulty whilst walking, which may include very considerable psychological distress; or
• Be at risk of serious harm when walking; or pose, when walking, a risk of serious harm to any other person. (The Disabled Persons (Badges for Motor Vehicles) Regulations, 4(2)(f))

9. The disability experienced by the applicant must have endured, or be expected to endure, for at least three years.
10. In respect of both physical disabilities and non-visible conditions, where a council cannot reach a view based on the applicants evidence, it would be expected to appoint an expert assessor. (The Blue Badge Scheme Local Authority Guidance, 4.27)
11. If applicants are unhappy with the outcome of an assessment, they may appeal by asking the Council to review the decision.

Key facts

12. Mrs X had previously been granted a blue badge in 2018. She submitted a renewal application to the Council August 2021. She says her condition has not changed in the last three years if anything it has deteriorated.
13. The Council completed an assessment over the telephone on 29 September 2021. The assessment form records Mrs X to have arthritis in both knees and gout in her foot. She experiences pain for which she has regular injections. On average day Mrs X said she can walk less than 27 metres. She says she asked the assessor about the appeal process should her application be refused. She says she was told she had a right of appeal and the timeframe for doing so.
14. The assessor concluded Mrs X did not meet the criteria for a blue badge and the renewal application was declined.
15. The Council wrote to Mrs X on 7 October 2021 to say her application had been refused because her “…mobility is not impaired to the extent whereby you have a permanent and substantial inability to walk or encounter severe difficulty in walking”. It said she could not reapply within six months, unless her mobility deteriorated further.
16. Mrs X submitted an appeal. The Council responded by email on 9 November 2021 to say it did not offer an appeal process because the OT assessment, along with the supporting medical information was sufficient to come to a robust decision. The Council says it has an internal procedure to deal with decisions about blue badges.

Analysis

17. The Ombudsman cannot question the merits of a decision made without fault. We can consider how the Council made the decision and whether it took all relevant information, including the law and guidance, into account. In this case, I consider the Council failed to do so.
18. I am not persuaded the Council has assessed Mrs X’s application properly. Given this was a renewal of an existing badge, not a new application, it would have been appropriate to offer a face-to-face assessment and a mobility assessment. This would have clarified what, if anything, had changed since the last assessment.
19. Guidance states councils should make sure there is a clear appeals procedure in place for unsuccessful Blue Badge applicants. Councils should signpost this process in its decision letters. The Council does not currently have a formal appeals process. Its current process is insufficient and not in line with good administrative practice. A desk-based review is not a robust review system, it does not allow an applicant the opportunity to demonstrate any difficulty and/or further discuss mobility issues, which they may have difficulty doing in writing.

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Agreed action

20. The Council should within four weeks of the final decision:

• apologise to Mrs X in writing for the shortcomings set out above
• arrange a face-to-face mobility assessment. As part of that assessment, Mrs X should be invited to provide any supporting evidence that she may wish to be considered. Following the assessment, the Council should review the application
• implement an appeals procedure, in line with the guidance for refused Blue Badge applicants
• provide evidence of the above to this office.

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Final decision

21. The Council failed to properly consider Mrs X’s application for a blue badge and failed to offer her the opportunity to appeal its decision.
22. The above recommendations are a suitable way to settle the complaint.
23. It is on this basis; the complaint will be closed.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman