London council reviews Blue Badge assessment process following Ombudsman complaint

The London Borough of Barking and Dagenham has agreed to review the way it assesses applications for the disabled ‘Blue Badge’ parking scheme after the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman says it found numerous failings in the way the council was running the scheme.

After criticism from the Ombudsman for deleting records of failed applications, the council also agreed to keep its records of unsuccessful Blue Badge applications for at least a year.

According to the Ombudsman, a complaint was received after an application by a man with a hearing impairment was rejected by the council and the council did not review his application when asked.

When the Ombudsman tried to investigate the complaint, it found the council had already deleted the man’s records, meaning it could not explain if it had gone on to assess the man’s individual circumstances after rejecting him for not automatically qualifying. It then failed to give him a detailed explanation for why it rejected both his application and his request for a review. The council also failed to have an appeals process which the legislation requires.

Under recent legislation, some applicants will qualify automatically for a Blue Badge. When an applicant is not automatically eligible, councils must further assess the applicant’s individual circumstances and decide if they qualify for a Badge. The Ombudsman’s investigation found the council appeared to reject the man’s application purely because he did not automatically qualify. It also refused to review its decision and failed to offer him a right of appeal.

Michael King, Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman, said: “While I cannot say whether the man should have been awarded a Blue Badge, I have found the council did not consider his application properly.

“The problems highlighted in my investigation suggest there may be other people in the borough similarly affected, so I have asked the council to invite anyone it has rejected over the past six months to submit their applications for reassessment.

“I am pleased the council has readily accepted my other recommendations to improve its Blue Badge process, and hope this means other people will not be left uncertain about their application in future.”

In this case, the council has agreed to apologise to the man and re-assess his eligibility for a Blue Badge.

Barking and Dagenham has also agreed to review its procedures to make sure it is assessing Blue Badge applications properly. An appeals process will be implemented, and the council will carry out training for relevant staff.

Although it is not required, the council says it will keep its records about unsuccessful Blue Badge applications for at least a year so it can respond to any complaints and amend its records policy to reflect this.

It will also invite any rejected applications from the last six months to submit their applications for reconsideration.

In a statement, the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham said: “The council is undertaking a review as specified within the LGO Report. This review will encompass the mobility service as a whole and will specifically review service process and how applications are assessed to ensure full compliance.

“The council is not required to keep copies of rejected applications although this can be considered good practice. As such, we are now going to keep all applications successful or otherwise for a period of one year to enable reviews to take place.

“Technically, the resident did ask us to look again at the decision, however, as we did not have a published appeals process in place, he was not provided with a final decision that could be used to escalate his complaint to the LGO. The council will now be issuing a public notice on its website that invites applicants to re-apply if they have had a previous application rejected. This action was agreed with the LGO.

"We are in the process of updating our procedures for processing Blue Badge applications. We remain on track to complete this piece of work and train staff by the date specified in the Ombudsman’s report; October 2020. We have also agreed to reconsider the resident’s application for a Blue Badge.”

Adam Carey