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A radical overhaul of the Blue Badge scheme was announced on October 20 by Transport Minister Paul Clark. The Government is looking to give councils the power to confiscate stolen or forged Blue Badges immediately when they find them.
A new system of assessing eligibility for the Blue Badge is also being developed, with dedicated independent medical assessors, who will ensure that only those who really need a Badge receive one. This is intended to standardise assessments throughout the country, and lighten the workload of GPs, who currently carry out individual assessments in many areas.
At the same time the strategy commits to extending the scheme to seriously disabled Armed Forces personnel and veterans, people with temporary but serious mobility problems, young children with specific disabilities and individuals with severe mental impairments.
Helen Smith Mobilise Director of Policy and Campaigns said:
“Mobilise has been campaigning for a review of the Blue Badge scheme for many years and so we welcome this announcement of the new Blue Badge strategy."
“Unfortunately too many people are misusing and abusing Blue Badges and this means the scheme is no longer benefiting the people that it should. Only by ensuring that people meeting the qualifying criteria are issued with badges and abuse of the scheme is taken very seriously will the scheme work again as it was intended.”
“I therefore hope that this strategy will tackle these issues and ensure that disabled people are able to get out and about and park a lot more easily.”
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