Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s handling of a Blue Badge application. There is not enough evidence of fault to warrant investigation.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complains on behalf of Mrs Y. Mrs X says the Council did not allow Mrs Y the opportunity to provide further information before it rejected her Blue Badge 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 there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
3. We investigate complaints of injustice caused by ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. I have used the word fault to refer to these. We consider whether there was fault in the way an organisation made its decision. If there was no fault in how the organisation made its decision, we cannot question the outcome. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

6. Mrs Y applied for a Blue Badge which was later declined by the Council. Mrs X says the Council did not fully or fairly consider the application as it did not give Mrs Y the opportunity to provide further supporting information.
7. An email from the Council shows it requested relevant supporting documents from Mrs Y on 31 October 2025. The Council explained that if she did not have any correspondence from a general practitioner (GP), hospitals or health care professionals, she could provide a patient summary record from her GP. On 4 November 2025, Mrs X later provided the GP’s summary on behalf of Mrs Y. The email to the Council accompanying the GP’s summary did not suggest Mrs X or Mrs Y were still waiting for further information from a GP that they intended to send the Council. The Council decided not to issue Mrs Y a Blue Badge based on the information available to it, which it considered to be complete. In these circumstances, we would be unlikely to find the Council at fault.
8. We are not an appeal body. This means we do not take a second look at the Council’s decision to decide if it was wrong. Instead, we look at whether there was fault in how the Council made its decision. We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because there is not enough evidence of fault by the Council to question the merits of its decision.

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Final decision

9. We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because there is not enough evidence of fault to warrant investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman