Summary: We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint about the Council’s handling of her blue badge application. She says the Council delayed in processing her application. This is because the potential fault has not caused significant injustice.

The complaint

1. Ms X complains about the Council’s handling of her blue badge application. She says the Council delayed in processing her application.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint, which we call ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We do not start or continue an investigation if we decide any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. Ms X had a blue badge that was issued by another Council. Her blue badge was due to expire at the end of September 2024.
6. In May 2024, Ms X attempted to complete an online application to renew her blue badge. However, Ms X said she struggled with the online form. Therefore, she called the Council to cancel the online submission and advised she would instead send in a paper application form. The Council confirmed it cancelled the online application.
7. Ms X asked the Council about support with completing her application form. The Council told Ms X it could only support her in July 2024. Ms X advised this was too late as the deadline for her to submit her renewal application was the end of June 2024. Therefore, the Council advised Ms X to contact a charity for support. The charity supported Ms X to complete a paper application as it was unable to support her with the online form.
8. Ms X submitted her paper application form, which the Council received at the end of June 2024. Ms X chased the Council for an update on her application in June and July 2024. Ms X called the Council in August 2024, and the Council confirmed it had received her paper application and it would review it soon.
9. In its complaint response, the Council confirmed it had not processed her paper application because Ms X had advised in May 2024 that she wished to close her blue badge application. The Council said it wasn’t told she wanted to continue with her blue badge application. The Council confirmed it would now process her application.
10. The Council reviewed and approved Ms X’s application on 13 August 2024. The Council ordered Miss X’s blue badge a few days later once it had received Ms X’s payment.
11. An investigation is not justified as the potential fault has not caused any significant injustice. This is because while the Council has accepted it failed to process the paper application when it received it, the Council’s timescales for fully processing application is 12 weeks. As the Council received Ms X’s paper application at the end of June 2024, this meant the Council had until mid-September 2024 to consider and process Ms X’s application. In this case, the Council fully processed Ms X’s application by mid-August 2024.
12. Further, Ms X’s new blue badge was issued before her current blue badge had expired. Therefore, Ms X was never without a valid blue badge.

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Final decision

13. We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint because the potential fault has not caused a significant injustice.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman