Liverpool City Council (25 024 593)
Category : Adult care services > Transport
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 18 Mar 2026
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about Mrs X’s blue badge application for her son. Mrs X complaint is late and there is no good reason to consider it now.
The complaint
- Mrs X complains that the Council failed to assess her son Mr Y’s eligibility for a Blue Badge properly. She says the Council did not apply the Department for Transport’s guidance on non‑visible disabilities and safety risk. She says the Council relied on a desk‑based assessment by a Chartered Physiotherapist to assess autism, which is outside that professional’s competence. She says that the Council did not respond to her appeals for a long period and kept her application fees without giving her a decision.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- We cannot investigate late complaints unless we decide there are good reasons. Late complaints are when someone takes more than 12 months to complain to us about something a council/care provider has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended)
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- Mrs X complains about her son’s 2023 Blue Badge applications, but she has only raised the issue now.
- Mrs X has been aware of the issues since 2023 and could have approached us at any point in the last three years. There does not appear to be a good reason for the delay.
- Mrs X says she chose not to make a new discretionary Blue Badge application when the Council advised this was the correct route. This was her decision and does not amount to a good reason for delaying her complaint to us.
- We will not investigate this complaint because the events happened more than 12 months ago and Mrs X has not given a good reason for the delay in coming to us. It is also still open to Mrs X to reapply for a Blue Badge to the Council.
Final decision
- We will not investigate because the complaint is late and there is no good reason to consider it now.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman