This notice was issued by the UK Department for Transport, 14 February 2011
Blue Badge Reform
The Government has today made an announcement on the most significant reform to the Blue Badge scheme in forty years. The measures include:
· Providing local authorities with an on-the-spot power to recover badges that have been cancelled and misused;
· Shared administration between authorities – including an on-line application facility – resulting in faster renewals, reduced abuse and operational efficiency savings of up to £20 million a year;
· Wider use of independent mobility assessments to determine eligibility, including where previously that assessment was carried out by a GP; and support for this by giving local authorities control of National Health Service spend on Blue Badge assessments;
· The replacement of handwritten badges with standard electronic ones which are harder to alter and forge;
· Extending the scheme to more disabled children under three years of age; providing continuous automatic entitlement to a badge to severely disabled Armed Forces personnel and veterans; and removing residency requirements for disabled service personnel and their families who are posted overseas on UK bases
The changes will start to be introduced from April this year.
The Written Ministerial Statement can be found on the DfT website at: HERE
The Press Notice can be found HERE
Also published on the website today, are the responses to the DfT’s 2010 consultation: HERE (html version) or HERE (pdf)
The Department received 225 responses and we thank those who responded.
You might also be interested in a new Blue Badge Newsletter published today at: www.dft.gov.uk/transportforyou/access/bluebadge/reform/newsletters/
We have published ‘Frequently Asked Questions’ and a summary of reforms, at: www.dft.gov.uk/transportforyou/access/bluebadge/reform/
All of these documents can be accessed on the Blue Badge pages of the DfT website.
Yours sincerely,
The Blue Badge Team
Department for Transport
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