Blue Badge reform Survey

9. Conclusions

9.1 The process of application for a Blue Badge, whilst locally extremely variable seems to achieve the standard of, at its most basic, delivering Blue Badges. However the means by which this happens are very different in different Local Authority areas. In general the application for an automatic Badge is fairly straightforward, does not involve senior staff, and is dealt with as routine.

9.2 Discretionary Badges are assessed in a variety of ways and by people in a variety of roles within Local Authorities. Assessments may be carried out by administrative staff or OTs or GPs. Mobility assessments are most commonly carried out by GPs, often by the applicant’s own GP, but staff in other roles including OTs and physiotherapists also carry out mobility assessments. There are significant differences between rejection rates in Local Authorities, and areas in which GPs take the decision to award a Blue Badge are more likely to refuse an application than areas where the decision is taken by OTs.

9.3 Health Boards play a strong role in most applications, predominantly by funding the mobility assessment. The average cost of the mobility assessments appears to vary extremely widely, and it seems that some GPs, particularly in remote rural areas, may be prepared to cover the costs of assessment themselves.

9.4 There is significant confusion over the question of who pays for assessments. In some areas both Local Authority and Health Board appear to be paying, where in others neither is, or both think that the other is paying. More subtle and more complex confusions also appear to exist with the possibility that in some areas Local Authorities within the same Health Board area may be being treated differently by that Health Board.