The Blue Badge does not always wait for a mobility score

The Blue Badge is administered by councils, not by DWP, and it has its own criteria. Those criteria borrow from the PIP decision in one specific way, which creates two quite different application experiences depending on how a PIP award happens to be scored.

The automatic route

Some applicants are described in the guidance as eligible without further assessment. In England that includes people who:

• receive the mobility component of PIP and scored 8 points or more under "moving around";
• receive the mobility component of PIP and scored 10 points under the descriptor for being unable to undertake any journey because it would cause overwhelming psychological distress, within "planning and following a journey";
• receive the higher rate mobility component of Disability Living Allowance;
• are registered severely sight impaired (blind);
• receive a War Pensioners' Mobility Supplement, or a qualifying award under the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme.

The important detail is that it is the points breakdown that matters, not the rate. Two people can both hold the standard rate of the mobility component and be in different positions, because the points can be made up from different activities. Somebody with eight points spread across planning and following a journey does not meet the first route; somebody with eight points concentrated in moving around does.

The discretionary route, and what changed in 2019

Everybody else is assessed by their council. For years this route was understood, in practice, as being about physical walking difficulty. From 30 August 2019 the criteria in England were widened so that non-visible — "hidden" — disabilities were explicitly within scope.

The broadened criteria cover people who, as a result of an enduring and substantial disability, cannot walk without considerable difficulty, and also people who cannot undertake a journey without there being a risk of serious harm to their health or safety or that of others, or without it causing them very considerable psychological distress.

That last limb is the one that matters for conditions such as dementia, autism and severe anxiety disorders, where the barrier is not the distance. Before 2019 those applications were frequently refused as a matter of course; they are now part of the published criteria.

What the assessment looks at

A council will usually ask for evidence about the condition and its effect on journeys, and may refer the application to an independent mobility assessor. Useful evidence speaks to journeys specifically rather than to the diagnosis — what happens when the person travels, how far they can manage, what the risk is, what has happened before.

This is a familiar pattern: the material that works is about effects, not labels, which is the same principle that runs through the points decide a PIP award, not the diagnosis.

A worked comparison

Two people, both holding the standard rate of the PIP mobility component.

The first scored 8 points under moving around, for being unable to walk more than a limited distance reliably. In England she is eligible without further assessment, and the council's role is to process the application and check identity and residence.

The second scored 4 points under moving around and 4 under planning and following a journey. Same component, same rate, but neither automatic route is satisfied. His application goes to the council's discretionary assessment, where the widened criteria apply and the evidence about journeys does the work.

Illustrative, based on the published criteria for England. Criteria and processes differ in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, and each council applies the discretionary assessment on the evidence before it.

The practical details

• Applications go to the local council, usually online through the GOV.UK service, which routes to the right authority.
• A badge normally lasts up to three years and is renewed by reapplying — renewal is not automatic, and the criteria are reapplied.
• Councils may charge a fee for issuing a badge, and the amount differs between England, Scotland and Wales.
• The badge belongs to the person, not to a vehicle. It can be used in any car the holder is travelling in, as driver or passenger — and not for journeys they are not part of.
• Misuse is a criminal offence, and councils do enforce it. A badge can be withdrawn.

What it actually permits

The concessions are national in outline and local in detail. A badge generally allows parking on single or double yellow lines for a limited period where loading restrictions do not apply, and free use of on-street pay-and-display and resident bays in many areas. It does not override every restriction, and off-street car parks, private land and some central London boroughs operate their own rules. Checking the local scheme is worth doing before relying on it.

Elsewhere in the UK

Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland run their own Blue Badge schemes with their own criteria and fees, and Scotland's automatic routes refer to Adult Disability Payment rather than PIP — the position described in Scotland replaced PIP, and the replacement keeps its own rules. Badges issued in one part of the UK are recognised across it.

The thing to do first

Find the PIP decision notice and read the points by activity. If there are eight or more under moving around, the application is straightforward and should not be approached as though it were a fresh assessment. If there are not, the application is a discretionary one, and it is worth preparing evidence about journeys — including the non-visible criteria, which a good many applicants still do not know are available to them.

Other entitlements that follow a mobility award, including vehicle tax and Motability, are in what a PIP award opens up besides the payment.