The Blue Badge is designed to help people with severe physical or mental health conditions park closer to where they want to go
Brits experiencing any of five particular mobility challenges may be entitled to a disabled parking badge. Blue Badges are designed to help those with severe physical or mental health conditions to park closer to their destinations.
Figures reveal that by 2024, approximately 2.84 million Blue Badge holders were registered across England – showing that more than one in every 22 people held these special permits. Among the qualifying conditions are several issues related to walking.
The Government website states you might be entitled to a badge if any of these situations apply:
- You cannot walk at all
- You cannot walk without help from someone else or using mobility aids
- You find walking very difficult due to pain, breathlessness or the time it takes
- Walking is dangerous to your health and safety
- You have a life limiting illness, which means you cannot walk or find walking very difficult and have a SR1 form
However, meeting these criteria doesn’t automatically guarantee you’ll receive a badge – applicants must secure approval from their local authority, which has the power to assess eligibility. According to GOV.UK : “Your local council will decide if you are eligible for a badge.
“They cannot start the assessment process until they have all the necessary evidence. It may take 12 weeks or longer to assess your application.”, reports Plymouth Live.
“If they decide that you are not eligible and you think that they did not take account of all the facts, you can ask them to consider your application again.”
Applying for a badge
To apply for a Blue Badge you will need:
- Proof of identity
- Proof of address
- A recent head and shoulders digital photo
- Your national insurance number (if you have one)
- Contact details (phone number, email and postal address)
To confirm your identity, you can provide a copy of either birth or adoption certificate, passport, driving licence, marriage or civil partnership certificate, or divorce or dissolution certificate. Moreover, to verify your address, you can provide a copy of either a recent council tax bill, a recent letter from a government department such as the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), a driving licence, or a recent letter from a school (if you’re under 16).
Certain individuals are automatically eligible for a Blue Badge. The criteria for this are if you are aged three or over and at least one of the following applies:
- You are eligible for the higher rate of the mobility component of the Disability Living Allowance (DLA)
- You qualify for a Personal Independence Payment (PIP) because you can’t walk more than 50 metres (a score of eight points or more under the ‘moving around’ activity of the mobility component)
- You are registered as severely sight impaired (blind)
- You receive a War Pensioners’ Mobility Supplement
- You have received a lump sum benefit within tariff levels 1 to 8 of the Armed Forces and Reserve Forces (Compensation) Scheme and have been certified as having a permanent and substantial disability that causes inability to walk or very considerable difficulty in walking
- You receive the mobility component of PIP and have obtained 10 points specifically for descriptor E under the ‘planning and following journeys’ activity, on the grounds that you are unable to undertake any journey because it would cause you overwhelming psychological distress
There are also other conditions that qualify you for a badge, but not automatically. These include:
- You have a severe disability in both arms and regularly drive, but are unable to operate pay-and-display parking machines
- You have a child under three years old with a medical condition that necessitates the constant presence of bulky medical equipment
- You have a child under three years old with a medical condition that requires them to be kept near a vehicle at all times for potential emergency medical treatment
- You pose a significant risk to yourself or others near vehicles, in traffic or car parks
- You find it extremely difficult to plan or follow a journey
- You struggle to control your actions and lack awareness of the potential impact on others
- You often experience intense and overwhelming reactions to situations, leading to temporary loss of behavioural control
- You frequently experience extreme anxiety or fear in public or open spaces
For more information and to apply, please visit the Government website here.
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