Summary: Ms X complains about the Council’s handling of her adult child’s Blue Badge renewal and theft of Blue Badges from her vehicle. The Council was at fault for taking too long to process the Blue Badge renewal. The Council has agreed to apologise to Ms X and clarify the parking rules outside her home.

The complaint

1. Ms X complains about the Council’s handling of her adult child’s blue badge renewal and issues she has with the theft of blue badges from her vehicle. Ms X complains the Council:

• took too long to process her child’s blue badge renewal;
• failed to admit it misplaced the initial renewal application; and,
• asked unnecessary and intrusive questions about her child’s health.

2. Ms X also complains the Council has not offered an appropriate solution to the issues she had with parking outside her home as a disabled resident in a Controlled Parking Zone (CPZ). She believes the Council has issued unfair parking fines because it does not have a digital blue badge scheme which would help disabled residents avoid theft of their physical blue badges.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word fault to refer to these. If we are satisfied with an organisation’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 spoken to Ms X and considered the information she has provided in support of her complaint.
5. I have considered the information the Council has provided in response to my enquiries.
6. Ms X and the Council had an opportunity to comment on my draft decision. I considered any comments received before making a final decision

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What I found

Relevant guidance

The Blue Badge Scheme

7. The Department for Transport’s (DfT) Blue Badge Scheme helps people with severe physical mobility problems, or other conditions affecting their mobility, to access goods and services. It does this by allowing them, or their carer, to park near their destination. The scheme gives parking concessions to Blue Badge holders. Councils are responsible for the day-to-day administration and enforcement of the scheme. This includes assessing applicants’ eligibility for the badge and renewal. The Government website for applying and renewing Blue Badges states it can take up to 12 weeks for councils to make their decision.
8. The Blue Badge scheme is governed by primary legislation under section 21 of the Chronically Sick and Disabled Persons Act 1970. The legislation does not explicitly specify the format of the Blue Badge. It does however specify that the badge should be displayed in a way that can be clearly read from outside the vehicle.
9. Council residents with Blue Badges can apply for a disabled parking bay outside their home. The Council’s online guidance makes clear when applying for ‘informatory’ disabled parking bays these can be used by anyone with a Blue Badge and are advisory and unenforceable.

What happened

10. This timeline of key events does not cover everything that has happened.
11. Ms X’s adult child, Y, has Special Educational Needs (SEN) and receives support through an Education, Health and Care (EHC) Plan. Y has diagnoses of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), seizures and mental health difficulties.
12. In March 2023, Ms X sent the Council a renewal application for Y’s Blue Badge, which was due to expire in late June 2023. Ms X provided a copy of Y’s EHC Plan and other evidence about their conditions and ‘hidden’ disabilities.
13. The Council started processing the Blue Badge renewal in May 2023. The Expert Assessor (EA) assigned to review the renewal application contacted Ms X to request further information about Y’s conditions.
14. On 8 June 2023, Ms X made a stage one complaint to the Council about its handling of Y’s Blue Badge renewal. Ms X complained the EA had requested excessive information about Y’s conditions, when they already had everything they needed within the documents Ms X originally submitted. Ms X said the Council’s approach makes it harder for disabled people to receive support. Ms X provided further information about her concerns to the Council on 10 June 2023, following its acknowledgement of her stage one complaint.
15. The Council approved Y’s Blue Badge renewal on 18 July 2023. It responded to Ms X’s stage one complaint the day after. The Council’s complaint response explained the process for assessing Blue Badge applications from people with hidden disabilities as they do not automatically qualify for Blue Badges. The response confirmed the information requested about Y and their conditions were from a template suggested by the DfT and the Council consistently used in such cases. The Council also explained it did not exclude General Practitioners (GPs) from providing information about a person’s disability/health in appropriate circumstances.
16. Ms X remained dissatisfied with the Council’s response and escalated her complaint to stage two on the same day as the Council’s stage one response. Ms X questioned why the Council had requested information about Y’s disabilities when she had already submitted evidence about these when she applied for Blue Badge renewal. Ms X told the Council its questions were intrusive, unnecessary and insulting. She again questioned why Y’s GP was unable to provide supporting information about their disabilities. Ms X also asked why the Council was refusing to consider the introduction of digital Blue Badges to help people avoid theft of physical Blue Badges from their vehicles.
17. The Council responded to Ms X’s stage two complaint on 25 August 2023. The Council explained the EA had been unable to open and view the evidence Ms X had submitted with Y’s Blue Badge renewal. This is why the EA had requested additional information from Ms X. The Council apologised that it had not explained this at the time and had not asked Ms X to resend the evidence in a different format. The Council confirmed the additional questions it had asked about Y’s disabilities were consistent with DfT guidance and templates. The Council acknowledged the impact of thefts of Blue Badges and explained its earlier suggestion on using anti-theft devices was made in good faith. The Council said it had given feedback to the EA that dealt with Y’s renewal and made improvements to its staff guidance to ensure requests for further information are reflective of what is needed in each individual case.
18. Ms X brought her complaint about the Council’s handling to us after receiving the Council’s stage two complaint response.

Analysis

19. In response to my enquiries, the Council has explained that an internal administrative error meant Y’s Blue Badge renewal was logged as received in March 2023, but not immediately passed on to an Expert Assessor (EA) for review. This did not happen until May, with completion and approval of the Y’s Blue Badge renewal occurring in mid-July 2023.
20. The Council has already apologised to Ms X for requesting information about Y when it already held this and explained it has revised its staff guidance to avoid recurrence of this problem. It had not however explained the reasons for the delay in processing the renewal to Ms X. The Council advises residents to submit Blue Badge renewals in advance of expiry, which Ms X did. The Council took approximately five weeks longer than the recommended 12 weeks to complete its review of Y’s renewal. Neither Ms X nor the Council have advised that any parking fines were issued in the period between the expiry of Y’s Blue Badge on 23 June 2023 and the renewal on 18 July 2023. I therefore cannot say this delay caused injustice to Ms X or Y in that respect. The Council should however apologise to Ms X for frustration and concern caused by the avoidable delay and I have recommended it does so at the end of this statement.
21. The Council has told me Ms X’s complaint correspondence with it has not included queries about the Controlled Parking Zone (CPZ) on the road outside her home. From the correspondence I have seen, this appears to be correct. I have found there is clear signage near Ms X’s property which sets out the operating hours for the CPZ – parking is restricted to permit holders from 10:00 to 11:00 Monday to Friday to deter commuters from parking on the road. There is no evidence of fault by the Council in respect of this element of Ms X’s complaint.
22. In correspondence with local Councillors, Ms X said the Council had suggested she may wish to obtain a parking permit for the CPZ outside her home. This would avoid the need to display her or Y’s Blue Badge and remove the risk of this being stolen from her vehicle. Ms X believes she would still receive a parking fine as she would be parking her vehicle in a disabled bay without displaying a Blue Badge. It is disappointing the Council does not appear to have responded to this specific point in its previous correspondence with Ms X or the Councillor acting on her behalf. I have recommended the Council does this at the end of this statement.
23. The Council has no control over the theft of Blue Badges from vehicle and recognises this is a national problem. The Council appears to have suggested anti-theft devices to Ms X in good faith. The Council has also explained it is in the process of considering whether to implement a digital Blue Badge scheme. The Council is under no obligation to offer this option based on the current legislative guidance.

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Agreed action

24. Within one month of my final decision, the Council has agreed to:

• issue a written apology to Ms X for the injustice caused by its avoidable delay in processing Y’s Blue Badge renewal; and,
• provide written clarification to Ms X on whether she would incur a Penalty Charge Notice (PCN) for parking her vehicle in the disabled bay outside her property, if she also obtained a residents permit for the CPZ in this area.

25. The Council should provide us with evidence it has complied with the above actions.

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Final decision

26. I found fault with the Council and uphold Ms X’s complaint. This fault has caused Ms X injustice and the Council has agreed to take the recommended action to remedy that injustice.

Investigator’s decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman