Summary: The Council awarded Mr X a blue badge before the commencement of enquiries from this office. The complaint will be discontinued because there is no ongoing injustice to Mr X, and there could be no worthwhile outcome from any investigation by this office.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains the Council refused his application for a blue badge.

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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;
• there is no worthwhile outcome achievable by our investigation.
  (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

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What I found

3. Mr X has numerous physical health problems. He applied to the Council for a blue badge and included extensive supporting evidence.
4. The Council rejected the application and wrote to Mr X on 23 December 2024 informing him of the decision. Mr X submitted an appeal.
5. Following the appeal, the Council conducted an in-person mobility assessment. The assessment report is detailed and sets out the difficulties Mr X faced when mobilising. The assessor concluded Mr X did not meet the eligibility criteria for a blue badge.
6. The Council reviewed the decision and decreased the overall score awarded to Mr X. It rejected the appeal and wrote to Mr X in January 2025 to inform him of the outcome. Following this Mr X exchanged numerous emails with the Council. Initially he believed the Council had blocked his emails. The Council reassured Mr X this was not the case and listed the emails it had received from him.
7. Mr X submitted a complaint to this office in January 2025. During this office’s consideration of the complaint, the Council reassessed Mr X’s application and took account of information from an occupational therapist involved with Mr X. Subsequently, the Council awarded Mr X a blue badge.

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Final Decision

8. There is no ongoing injustice to Mr X, and there could be no worthwhile outcome from any investigation by this office.
9. The complaint will now be closed.

Investigator’s decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman