blue badge

Hi Diane

Welcome to the forum, you might want to have a look at the following FAQ which explains where everything is

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The decision to award a Blue Badge lies wholly with your Local Authority. If you’ve been refused a Blue Badge, you can ask for the decision to be reviewed by the Local Authority.

You’ll be able to get a Blue Badge automatically if you:
* get the higher rate of the mobility component of Disability Living Allowance (DLA)
* get Personal Independence Payment (PIP) and scored 8 points or more in the ‘moving around’ activity (check your decision letter if you’re not sure)
* get Personal Independence Payment (PIP) and scored 10 points for Descriptor E under the ‘planning and following journeys’ activity (check your decision letter)
* are registered blind (severely sight impaired)
* get a War Pensioner’s Mobility Supplement
* received a lump sum payment as part of the Armed Forces Compensation scheme and have a permanent and substantial disability that affects your walking.

If you’re not automatically eligible you may be able to get a Blue Badge in certain circumstances. For example, if:

* you can’t walk at all, or you can’t walk without help from someone else or using mobility aids
* you have a terminal illness, which means you can’t walk or find walking very difficult and have a DS1500 form
* you have a severe disability in both arms which means you have considerable difficulty operating parking meters
* you are always a significant risk to yourself or other people when you’re near vehicles, in traffic or car parks
* you often become extremely anxious or fearful of public or open spaces.

Gary

Okay phrank,

Incredible as it may sound, the government’s guidance is very clear – an award of 10 points under the ‘Under the ‘planning and following journeys’ mobility Descriptor E (“cannot undertake any journey because it would cause overwhelming psychological distress to the claimant”) counts as meeting automatically getting a blue badge.

An award of 12 points for the same activity does not. This does not mean that you are not going to be eligible for a blue badge, just that the application should be ‘subject further assessment’.

In non Covid times, at least in the local authority I am most familiar with, this would potentially mean a face to face assessment, however hopefully if you can include some strong supporting evidence, perhaps the same as you included in his PIP claim, you will be successful in a paper assessment.

The difficulty you have to overcome is that you have a PIP award which says that you 'Cannot follow the route of a familiar journey without another person, as assistance dog or an orientation aid'. That diagnosis, which is all the automated system can look at, does not prove that if you have that person or assistance aid you are not able to move around without any problem.

I hope that helps explain why you got the automated answer you did.
Catherine

Hi phrank,

I suspect the difference between your previous paper application and this one is whether or not it was read by a person. The computer can only apply rules, a person is able to add intelligence to the process.

Catherine