Summary: Ms X complains the Council failed to make reasonable adjustments and communicate effectively with her when she applied to renew her blue badge. We have found no evidence of fault by the Council so have completed our investigation.

The complaint

1. Ms X complains the Council failed to make reasonable adjustments and ensure it communicated effectively with her when she applied to renew a blue badge. Ms X says this caused her distress, hardship and avoidable time and trouble. Ms X wishes the Council to make a financial payment to remedy the distress caused.

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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 significant injustice, or that could cause injustice to others in the future we may suggest a remedy. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26(1) and 26A(1), as amended)
3. 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(1), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

4. I considered evidence provided by Ms X and the Council as well as relevant law, policy and guidance.
5. Ms X and the Council had an opportunity to comment on my draft decision. I considered any comments before making a final decision.

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What I found

6. What follows is a brief chronology of events. It does not include all the information I considered as part of my investigation.
7. A blue badge allows people with disabilities to park closer to facilities for free. Ms X applied to renew her blue badge on 24 February 2025 as it was due to expire on 23 May 2025.
8. When Ms X submitted her application the Council’s website advised blue badge applicants it could take up to 12 weeks to process an application from the time the Council received all supporting information. The Council says this was due to the number of applications it received and the need for some applicants to have an independent mobility assessment. The 12 weeks is in line with the Department for Transport’s website which says a Council will usually make a decision on an application within 12 weeks.
9. To meet the 12-week deadline the Council says it needs applicants to submit all supporting evidence with the initial application. To help applicants the Council’s website and the blue badge application form explain the documents needed including proof of identity and proof of residency and the 12-month timeframe they must be dated within. The guidance says a driving licence can be submitted as either proof of identity or proof of residency but not for both.
10. The Council’s guidance also explains that apart from applicants with a terminal diagnosis it processes all applications and supporting evidence in a strict order of receipt. This is to avoid discrimination or prioritising one condition or illness over another. The Council says its position is to ensure it strikes a balance between providing compassionate consideration for individual cases and maintaining a fair and consistent process for all applicants.
11. The Council’s website also advises blue badge applicants to register for a portal account to track the progress of their application once submitted. Applicants can use the portal account to upload any additional information and pay for the badge.
12. The Council reviewed Ms X’s application within its timeframes on 24 March 2025. Ms X had submitted a driving licence as proof of both identity and residency and another document which was outside the specified timescales. So, the Council could not proceed with Ms X’s application. Council officers sent Ms X an email to the email address Ms X provided asking for alternative proof of her home address or identity. It gave Ms X information about uploading the information to its secure blue badge portal and instructions about creating a customer portal account if necessary.
13. Ms X emailed the Council in April and May 2025 asking for updates on her application, whether she needed to supply any further information and that she had not received responses to her earlier emails. Ms X telephoned the blue badge helpline on 15 May 2025 as she had still not received reply from the Council. Officers advised Ms X they had not been able to process her application due to further information being needed and she had been sent an email on 24 March 2025 advising her of this. Ms X sent in the additional information requested the same day.
14. The Council processed the additional information provided by Ms X on 4 June 2025 and told Ms X it had approved her blue badge renewal. Ms X paid for a new badge, and it was issued by the Department for Transport to Ms X’s address. Ms X received her new blue badge on 16 June 2025.
15. Ms X complained to the Council about the processing of her blue badge. Ms X said the Council had:
• failed to make reasonable adjustments for her as a disabled service user as she had needed to telephone the Council for an update after not receiving any responses to her emails. Ms X said she required contact via email as she found making telephone calls distressing and the Council should have been aware of this.
• failed to provide an alternative or follow up method for her to use such as post or text messaging facility.
• Failed to respond to her contact in tailored way and be aware she had not received the email in March 2025.
• Insisted she use telephone calls and a portal she could not access as the information on how to do so was in the March 2025 email she did not receive.
16. Ms X said she had been unable to leave her home for several weeks so missed appointments as she could not park lawfully in any disabled parking space.
17. The Council responded to Ms X’s complaints. It explained about the 12-week timescale to process applications and the requirements to send in documents to prove residency and identity. It explained the onus to provide the required supporting documents with applications rests with the applicants. Unfortunately, it could not process Ms X’s application as she had not sent in the correct documents.
18. Officers had emailed Ms X at the address provided in March 2025 to advise of this. The Council confirmed it had used the email address Ms X provided and had not had any notification the email had not been received. The Council confirmed that once it sends a request for additional information it will not actively look to ensure there is a response and there is not a statutory requirement to do so.
19. The Council confirmed it had four ways to be contacted including by post which it advises on its website. When applicant send in emails, they receive an automated response. This says it may take up to eight weeks from when a person applied or provided additional information to hear from it. And all applications or evidence are managed in order of receipt. The auto response also explains the Council was unable to respond to request for updates, advice or general information.
20. The Council said Ms X would have received the automated responses to her emails confirming receipt of the additional information. It considers this would have been clear to Ms X she would not be receiving an immediate bespoke response as this would not be possible. Officers would have dealt with processing the additional evidence provided to allow Ms X’s application to be processed as soon as it could be. The Council confirms that officers did respond to Ms X’s emails within its published processing times to advise she needed to send the correct supporting evidence to complete her application. In addition, the emails Ms X sent did not suggest alternative reasonable adjustments were needed.
21. The Council noted that while Ms X may have requested the Council to use email to contact her the blue badge team only had access to systems relevant to the application process. The team did not have access to social care records where Ms X’s request may have been recorded. Officers contacted Ms X via email in line with its advertised processing timescales.
22. The Council accepted in its complaint response that Ms X would not have been able to access the blue badge portal to track her application without the information given in the email of March 2025. It has therefore added additional information about accessing the portal on its website. The Council has now clarified that in fact that information about the online portal would have been available to Ms X via its website from 28 January 2025 when it set up the new blue badge application system. So, Ms X did not need to rely on information in the email of March 2025 for this information.
23. The Council has considered Ms X’s comments about responses to applicants including SMS text messaging updates, reviewing the automated email response to ensure it is clear about not providing a reply to better manage applicants’ expectations. And whether to issue a further notification if a response has not been received after a period of time. This may help overcome a situation where a notification is not received, missed or filtered into an applicant’s spam or junk email folder. As a result, the Council has amended the email auto response to ensure applicants are aware of timescales and when they will receive responses.

My assessment

24. The Council’s website and application form clearly states that it can take up to 12 weeks to process an application once the Council receives all the supporting documents. The documents show the Council initially dealt with Ms X’s application after four weeks. But it did not have all the supporting documents to progress the application. This is unfortunate but I cannot say it was due to any fault by the Council. Its documents explain that it can delay the application process if not sent all the correct evidence and the onus is on applicants to send the correct documents.
25. The Council sent Ms X an email to advise and explain the information required to progress her application. The Council has provided a copy of the email which was sent to the email address Ms X provided. It is unfortunate if Ms X did not receive the email, but the Council did not receive any ‘bounce back’ notification. Therefore, I cannot say the failure to receive the email was due to any fault by the Council.
26. The Council sends an auto response email to any contacts which Ms X did receive when contacting the Council for updates. This gave enough information to advise that Ms X would receive a response within eight weeks. The Council’s website also gave alternative contact details including a postal address. So, there were other options available for Ms X to use. This included registering for an online portal account to be able to track an application. It is unfortunate the Council’s response to Ms X may have caused some confusion about needing the email of March 2025 to be able to create an account when this was not the case. But the information about opening the portal account was on the Council’s website and available for Ms X to access when she applied to renew her blue badge.
27. The Council says it will mirror the way an application is made either email or post when responding so is mindful if reasonable adjustments are required. There is no evidence Ms X advised the blue badge team that she required reasonable adjustments to be made when dealing with her application. Ms X has said she had advised other Council services of her request for reasonable adjustments; however, the information would not be shared with all services as it would not be appropriate where such requests may have been recorded. But in any event, there were other options available to Ms X to contact the Council.
28. While I appreciate the situation was distressing for Ms X I do not consider there has been fault by the Council. It advises it will deal with applications within 12 weeks of receiving all supporting information. The evidence shows the Council acted quickly in this case once it was aware of the issues and Ms X provided the correct information in May 2025. Ms X’s application was approved on 4 June 2025. Ms X did not receive her blue badge until 16 June 2025, but the Council was not responsible for this as it is issued by the Department for Transport. The Council has updated its email auto responses to explain more clearly about when an applicant will receive a response so I do not consider any further investigation will achieve anything more for Ms X.

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Decision

29. I find no fault by the Council.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman