Disability Rights UK Blue Badge Consultation Response

Disability Rights UK Blue Badge consultation response

Disability Rights UK is led by people with lived experience across the spectrum of disability and health conditions, including mental health conditions, learning disabilities, dementia and autism.

We are a pan disability membership organisation led by disabled people seeking change. Our membership includes individual disabled people and organisations working on their behalf including disabled people led organisations.

Among our membership are over three hundred organisations that give advice directly to disabled people, particularly in respect of benefit issues. DR UK run a second-tier advice line where we assist their front-line advice workers with supportive information and advice.

Question 1 – Do you agree with the proposed new criteria as described in paragraph 3.21?

DR UK strongly supports the proposed new blue badge criteria outlined in paragraph 3.21 of the consultation i.e. to amend the criterion which relates to difficulty walking to include:

“a person who has an enduring and substantial disability the effect of which is that that person is unable to -

i. walk;

ii. undertake any journey without it causing very considerable difficulty when walking;

iii. undertake any journey without there being a risk of very considerable harm to the health or safety of that person or any other person;

iv. follow the route of any journey without another person, assistance animal or orientation aid.”

In effect, the above criteria already operate in Scotland and Wales.

Their adoption will mean that those disabled people with a severe mental health condition who live in England will rightly achieve eligibility parity with those who live in Scotland and Wales.

DR UK has always argued that disabled people’s rights should not be subject to a postcode lottery and that the UK should be a place where all can participate equally.

The consultation document sets out that –

“ The government is committed to ensuring that physical and non-physical disabilities are given parity - and equalities legislation demands it. In respect of people with physical difficulty in walking, the purpose of a Blue Badge is clearly to help them to get from the vehicle to their destination.

For the scheme to be fair and consistent in spirit and law, we need to ensure that people who may be able to walk but have great difficulty in getting from the vehicle to their destination because of a non-physical disability also have access to badges.”

Unless the criteria for the blue badge scheme are amended in the way proposed it will impossible for the scheme to work with parity for all disabled people regardless of them having either a physical or non-physical disability. (3.18)

The consultation does go on to state –

“It is important that the scheme is sustainable. There is already a significant amount of badge misuse and parking spaces are limited. Issuing more badges may worsen this situation.

Therefore it is in everyone’s interest that badges go only to those who are experiencing very considerable difficulty in making a journey – whatever their disabilities – and for whom a badge would make a real difference.” (3.19)

DR UK strongly agree that blue badges only go to those who clearly experience difficulty when making a journey. Also, that they should not be misused to secure parking places by those with no such disability.

However, efforts to ensure the non-misuse of blue badges must be separated from the criteria for the award of a blue badges themselves.

Clearly, the availability and number of parking spaces vary from area to area. But even where space is limited, disabled people who struggle to make a journey must be given priority over those who have an ability to park elsewhere and can then continue their journey unaided.

Question 2 – Not applicable

Question 3 – Do you agree that where an expert opinion is required it should be provided by an eligibility assessor as described in paragraph 3.27?

DR UK strongly supports the proposal that - whether applicants have physical or non-physical disabilities - the requirement that a mobility assessor be independent be removed.

The consultation explains that this would allow a range of healthcare professionals with specific expertise (other than the applicant’s GP) to undertake the assessments.

DR UK has long campaigned for similar reform of how both Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) and Personal Independence Payment (PIP) are assessed.

Currently assessors employed by Atos, Capita and Maximus do not have sufficient expertise to conduct assessments for disabled people or those with long-term conditions.

The September 2017 Disability Benefits Consortium (DBC) report - Supporting Those Who Need It Most? - examines the findings of a survey of over 1,700 disabled people and people with long-term conditions who have made a PIP claim.

When asked about their experience of undergoing assessment for ESA, 62% of respondents either disagreed or strongly disagreed when asked whether assessors “understood my disability or health condition”.

Similarly, when asked about their experience of undergoing a PIP assessment 59% disagreed that the assessor understood their health condition and 60% disagreed that the assessor took into account how their condition changes.

The inadequacy of both ESA and PIP assessments are also reflected by them making around 80% of all benefit appeals and that around two thirds of these appeals are successful.

Most ‘Health Care Professionals’ employed by Atos, Capita and Maximus have little or no knowledge or experience of mental health conditions. It is vital that any blue badge assessor understands the range, variety and impacts of the mental health condition of the disabled person if they are to make informed recommendations.

However, where an applicant has no automatic blue badge entitlement, we submit that they be asked to specify to the local authority the medical professional who best knows their difficulties. This would help ensure that a fully informed decision is made on their application.

We also submit that this include their GP. Not all those with a disability or long term health condition regularly see a hospital consultant or similar medical professional. In these cases, their GP may have more frequent contact with them.

Question 4 - Do you agree there should be automatic badge eligibility for people with non-physical disabilities who score 12 points under the PIP activity ‘Planning and Following Journeys’? If no, please state why.

DR UK strongly agrees with automatic badge eligibility for people with non-physical disabilities who score 12 points under the PIP activity ‘Planning and Following Journeys’.

At present there is automatic blue badge entitlement awarded 8 PIP points to those with a physical disability who are only able to stand and walk up to 50 metres.

This recognizes that those who are unable to physically walk such a distance are unable to independently mobilise in their local area. This in turn gives them eligibility for the Motability scheme and in turn will need to park as near as possible to any destination.

In order to be awarded 12 points under the PIP activity ‘Planning and Following Journeys’, a disabled person must be unable to follow the route of a familiar journey without another person, an assistance dog or an orientation aid.

Any disabled person meeting this criteria due to a mental health or sensory condition will equally be unable to mobilise independently in their local area as will someone who can only walk up to 50 metres.

The Government cannot fulfil its commitment to ensuring that physical and non-physical disabilities are given parity unless the change proposed to automatic eligibility is made.

We would also submit that if the change is not made, that following the High Court's judgment in RF v SSWP & Ors [2017] EWHC 3375 (Admin), the blue badge scheme may face a legal challenge on the grounds that it is a similar breach of the European Convention on Human Rights.

Ken Butler

DR UK Welfare Benefits and Policy Advisor

Disability Rights UK

Plexal

14 East Bay Lane

Here East

Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park

Stratford

London E20 3BS

Email:

16 March 2018