Blue Badge reform Survey

5. Outcomes/Acceptance & Rejection rates

5.1 On the question of rejection rates there is significant and unexplained variation between Local Authorities. This varies between 0% and 60% with the median rate being 5% but with a handful of authorities with significantly higher rates than this and a cluster below 1%. There does not appear to be any pattern in the relationship between the refusal rate and, for example, the role of the person who undertakes the assessment. In addition, the peculiar spread of the data suggests that either they were interpreting the question differently, and therefore gave incorrect figures, or alternatively that a couple of Local Authorities are following the process in such a way that they generate an extremely high refusal rate relative to the norm, which may cause concerns for different reasons.

5.2 The median refusal rate for authorities which have GP led mobility assessments is 9%, in contrast with those led by OTs, where it is 2%.^[8] This suggests that the norm is that in areas with GP led assessment, the refusal rate is marginally higher than in areas with OT led assessment.^[9] The difference between the medians for the OT and GP led assessment areas on the one hand and the overall median on the other is accounted for by the four Local Authority areas in which assessment is by people in other roles. A chart with the individual refusal rates for discretionary applications is below: