Response to consultation on PIP and eligibility for a Blue Badge
i.Transport for All (TfA) believes that the best option would be for people to qualify for a Blue Badge under either Option 2 or Option 3. That is, we believe that everyone who receives the enhanced rate mobility component of PIP should be automatically eligible for a Blue Badge; as well as those who score 8 or more on the Moving Around within PIP.
1a. We agree that some of those who greatly benefit from a Blue Badge are those who are able to walk, but because of challenging behaviour or a particular medical condition need to be able to park near to shops and services. The Blue Badge scheme should continue to improve the accessibility of jobs; leisure opportunities, healthcare and other services to those who can walk, but because of a cognitive or mental health condition, find longer walks from vehicle to destination unsafe, difficult and frightening. This is why we reject Option 3.
1b. We believe that the Blue Badge should be available to, but not limited to, those who are unable to walk or have very considerable difficulty walking. It should also be available to people who are able to walk, but because of challenging behaviour or a particular medical condition need to be able to park near to shops and services. The needs of those with variable conditions including sickle cell anaemia, COPD and arthritis especially need to be considered.
1c) There should be both automatic eligibility criteria and further assessment to allow the exercise of common sense and discretion when it comes to cases where people might not fit the exact letter of regulation.
ii.Option 1 seems the least sensible option for Blue Badge eligibility.
Transport for All, through our Advocacy and Advice line, deals with appeals from disabled and older transport users who have been turned down for a Blue Badge. Through this work, we frequently come across cases where people who have real difficulty walking have been deemed ineligible for a Blue Badge.. Furthermore, at a time of austerity, we feel that there is a financial incentive to reduce the numbers of successful Blue Badge applicants and unfortunately this is seen as a way of making stealth cuts in some unscrupulous councils. While there are undoubtedly professional and sensible mobility assessors, our casework suggests that this is rather a postcode lottery.
In particular, we feel that there is a tendency for mobility assessors to:
a.Fail to adequately recognise variable conditions: that is, medical conditions where ability to walk / pain fluctuate from day to day. Assessors turn down an applicant based on the applicant’s mobility on the day of the assessment, but fail to recognise that their ability to walk on the day of the assessment does not represent their overall condition; and their need for a Blue Badge.
b.Fail to understand invisible impairments: medical conditions including heart conditions; kidney conditions and respiratory conditions which affect ones ability to walk but where the applicant has no stick or visible mobility aid.
Here are some cases we have recently dealt with which convince us that at the moment, non-automatic eligibility for Blue Badge under assessment tends to be too narrowly restricted.
False names have been used to protect the identities of those involved.
Case 1: Mr Jones is a 65 year old man with long term mobility impairment. He has heart disease and had a quadruple bypass surgery and had three stents inserted though his leg to his heart. Mr Jones can only walk for a short distance before he runs out of breath. On 02.04.2012 he had an angiogram test at Wellington Hospital and his Cardiologist discovered that one of the arteries behind the heart is blocked. This means that his condition has far from improved - in-fact has deteriorated. Refused Blue Badge. Successful appeal but only valid for one year. Harrow.
Case 2:Stacey is a nine year old girl who has Sickle-cell disease (SCD), and has many other medical issues as a result. She can only walk for a short distance before she runs out of breath and suffers severe pain. She also get stomach cramps very often as a result of her disability and her mother has to lay her down on the floor to ease her pain. Furthermore, she has lung problems and uses oxygen bottles at night and an asthma pump during the day - she even keeps some at school in case of emergency. She is also on luticasone Acuhaila pain killers 100mg, codeine tablets, penicillin and paracetamol.
Refused Blue Badge, Lambeth.
Case 3: Muzammal is a 7 year old boy who has sever Autism and his parent finds it impossible to travel with him on public transport. Because of the severity of his Autism, travelling on buses, tube or trains is very distressing and his parent informed us that he runs off and drop to the floor unexpectedly and refuses to walk. As you appreciate, because of his medical condition, it is impossible for him to use public transport. Therefore a Blue Badge, for Muzammal, is a necessity. His parents also informed us that because of his disability, he requires 24/7 care and attention and needs access to the family vehicle and even driven immediately and very quickly to hospital if he injures himself.
Refused Blue Badge. Barking & Dagenham.
Case 4: Mr Featherton is 73 year old man with long term mobility impairment. He has heart disease and had a heart surgery and a tube put through his leg to his heart. Mr Featherton can only walk for a short distance before he runs out of breath. He also has a constant pain on his right leg as a result of the surgery. Furthermore, on the 17.10.2010 Mr Featherton has had another heart surgery in order to improve his breathing; unfortunately the surgery was unsuccessful and on 18.10.2010 he was discharged from hospital. He still suffers from this condition and can only walk for short distance before he runs out of breath. He informed us that he visits St. Mary's Hospital for regular checkups on his kidney and liver, and this as a result of his heart condition. He also attends weekly blood tests at the hospital.
Refused Blue Badge. Lambeth.
Case 5: Mr. Refaeli was born with a severe and rare Epileptic condition called SMEI (Severe Myoclonic Epilepsy in Infancy). This is a very rare form of childhood epilepsy. Out of 500 children with epilepsy, only one, or at most two, children are likely to have this form of epilepsy. His speech and language are affected which results in him screaming, crying, extremely violent to himself and others around him indoors and outdoors. He bangs his head violently and regularly injures himself therefore he needs to be kept in the vehicle and even driven immediately and very quickly to hospital if he hurts himself. Mr. Refaeli's disability requires a 24/7 care attention, he is on 100 fits daily and has up to 5 kinds seizures. We also understand that the SMEI condition is very likely to result a high temperature and that requires him to be transferred to hospital as quickly as possible.
Refused Redbridge Blue Badge.
Ultimately, we would like to see improved training for mobility assessors employed by local councils; and where assessments have been contracted out to private companies, these contracts to be brought back in-house where more oversight can be exercised and there is greater transparency. We would like medical evidence from experts such as the applicant’s consultant to be elicited and considered.
However, TfA understands that reforming the system of assessing those who are not automatically eligible is outside the remit of this consultation. Therefore, we favour a system where most applicants qualify through automatic eligibility, rather than through being subjected to an assessment
2a) No - see the answer to question 2.
2b)
2c
2d. No, the use of assessments by mobility assessors should be minimised for the reasons stated above.
iii.TfA favours option 2, although we feel that a combination of Option 2 and Option 3 is the best solution.
If Option 2 alone is implemented, people who can move up to 50 metres unaided but no further (scoring 8 points on Activity 11); or people who cannot move up to 50 metres without an aid (scoring 10 points on Activity 11), but have no problems in making a journey independently if they have a stick, crutches or other mobility aid, will be excluded from the Blue Badge scheme.
This might include people with conditions that mean they can move 50m with or without an aid, but with pain or difficulty.
3a) Yes. There are many people who because of the difficulty, stress or pain of walking opt to minimise the journeys they make and thus become increasingly housebound and invisible in society. This includes those who may score points in the Planning and Following a Journey section of PIP but not enough in the Moving Around section of PIP alone to qualify were Option 3 to be implemented. Unless the very real difficulties of walking for people with some cognitive and mental health difficulties (e.g. more severe forms of autism) are recognised, such people will have fewer and fewer opportunities to go out and enjoy their life.
3b) -
3c) -
3d) -
We recognise that widening the eligibility criteria will result in more Blue Badge holders seeking a limited number of parking spaces.
However, at present, many disabled and older people who do not qualify for a Blue Badge but find walking between car and destination painful or difficult choose not to make outings and become housebound or semi-housebound. This is one of the reasons for the unequal position of disabled people in almost all spheres of public life, including work, family life and leisure opportunities, and the loneliness and exclusion faced by many older people.
In order to achieve the Governments 2025 targets for disability equality, the Government must ensure that the barriers that prevent people from getting out and about are removed: Blue Badge has proved to be an effective way of removing the barriers to people with reduced mobility accessing services.
For this reason, it’s important that the ‘dilution’ effect of increased Blue Badge holders competing for limited parking spaces is tackled not by capping the number of badge holders though excluding disabled and older people from the scheme, but by increasing the number of Blue Badge parking spaces. This is especially true in inner London boroughs where the limits placed on Blue Badge parking are a perennial source of frustration among Blue Badge holders and prevent us from enjoying much of what central London has to offer.
TfA recognises that there is a problem of competition for limited spaces, but it seems perverse to confront this only by limiting those who benefit from the scheme, rather than looking at the availability of spaces.
Within London, local authorities’ enforcement of Blue Badge spaces is generally good. However, in privately managed car parks and outside of London, Blue Badge holders frequently complain that there is insufficient enforcement resulting in spaces being occupied by non-badge holders.
Therefore, rather than tackle the issue of insufficient available parking spaces through excluding disabled and older people from the scheme, TfA believe that it would be better for the authorities to better enforce existing spaces; and where possible create new ones.
3e) Such linked benefits will be able to reach more people.
iv.TfA believe that Option 3 will result in excluding people with mental health conditions and cognitive impairments who, while able to walk, are unsafe or need to be able to access a vehicle at short notice to manage their condition.
4a) Yes - people who score 8 or more on the Moving Around within PIP should be automatically eligible, as well as those who receive the enhanced rate mobility component of PIP.
4b) -
4c) -
v.In the longer term, we would like to see a standardisation of training among assessors and auditing of assessors decisions. This could eliminate the worst mistakes of ignorant assessors or those employed by private companies acting purely to reduce the number of Blue badge holders in a local authority and ensure applicants are judged fairly according to criteria.
5a) Increasing the number of Blue Badge holders is likely to result in a cost to local authorities as a result of lower parking revenues. However, it is widely documented that the exclusion of disabled people from public life because of the difficulties of getting out and about has an economic cost. When walking is painful, difficult or unsafe, disabled and older people are more likely to opt to stay at home and get out and about less frequently. When disabled people are excluded from getting a job and paying taxes, and so are forced to claim benefits; when we cannot get to the doctor or optician and so have to have healthcare at home; when we cannot do our own shopping and have to get Meals on Wheels; when we get housebound, isolated and depressed and have to use NHS mental health services - there is a net cost the taxpayer. Therefore TfA believe that the economic and social benefits of eligibility for the Blue Badge under Option 2 and Option 3 outweigh the costs.
6a) -
-Lianna Etkind, 22 August 2012