Is applying for a blue badge really that difficult??

The majority do. I'm glad you are the exception. My parents, my in-laws, my brother's in-laws are all struggling though. Sadly, cognitive ability starts to deteriorate from about 70 for most. We've had to help all the old people on our families with stuff like this as they've been like rabbits in headlights despite being previously very capable.

I applied in January this year for my husband - he lacks patience and focus when it comes to forms - and found it fairly straightforward, if tedious. Luckily he’s pretty organised and had kept all the documentation from the hospital consultant regarding his disability and treatment regime, plus various prescriptions for the changing mountain of medication he’s had to take over the last couple of years. I uploaded everything I thought was relevant.

It was finally granted in August after a face-to-face consultation with an occupational therapist, so it took just over six months from start to finish. It was a bloody pain in the arse to do and the waiting was frustrating, but it was definitely worth it. Oh, and it was a £10 fee, non-refundable.
.

I am quite surprised at everyone claiming ‘it’s easy’!
It’s straightforward if you are used to completing online forms. But not everyone is. And there’s a lot of information to submit.

You apply online via gov.uk.

We completed one for my 86 year old mum’s blue badge and it took about an hour. There was absolutely no way she could have done it herself.

There were a lot of questions about health conditions and mobility issues, how far can you walk unaided etc. Also she tends to downplay her medical conditions so would probably not have listed them all and been refused!

We uploaded pictures of her medical diagnosis letters - she wouldn’t have been able to do that herself. You also have to upload proof of address and a photo of yourself, NI number, evidence of any benefits. So we had to find all those documents for her.

She used to be a lot more computer literate but over the past 10 years has found it all become very confusing.

But the blue badge does make attending appointments a lot easier so it was worth it.

We are in West Wales. We didn't need to gather any evidence. We completed the form including the details of our GP and then we had to go to the council office a few weeks later for DM to have her photo taken and we were given the badge there and then.

Apply here

I have completed it for someone, it was easy

Very useful to park closer to places, when caring for someone with poor mobility

https://www.gov.uk/apply-blue-badge

I found it straightforward, I applied online and just had at attach my pip award. I think if I had to have medical letters stating how far I can walk etc I probably would have found it harder to be honest, I do not get given copies of test results and xray copies from my hospital appointments, they don’t show in the nhs all and I’ve been told by admin staff that I must send a request and I get a print out of all my hospital records, I found that system a lot harder to navigate as id need to be doing these requests regularly to get a copy of results.

I didn’t send any evidence in for my pip claim because nothing came back in time, getting copies of my hospital medical history took six months, and it feels like a lot of unnecessary expense having to make requests for printouts, dwp contacted my doctors and that kind of made my applications for pop easier than if I’d have to gather medical evidence myself proving how my health affects me.

If your in-laws don’t have disability benefits and also don’t have anything from their doctors stating they can’t walk far etc then I can kind of understand why they think it’s a faff if they don’t know how to access all this stuff, but I’d say due to how long it takes, it’s better to start the ball rolling.

It was a very long wait though, took about four months for my initial BB application and my renewal took about six months due to what the council said is a massive backlog.

I know this attitude only too well, but tell them its for over 55s. It normally puts a stop to it because people are shocked that it starts that young.

If their hospital parking is anything like ours (a nightmare) sometimes the only spaces are the disabled ones so it's massively helpful!

We found it very straightforward (copd so couldn't walk far) and it was awarded pretty quickly

My DF didn't have a picture

You have to upload a recent photo.

Was his reason for the BB terminal illness? They don’t usually need a picture under special rules/

No

My father died last year and had had his Blue Badge for 2/3 years - definitely post Covid. and there certainly wasn't a photo. In Wales if that makes any difference.

It is not printed on the blue badge itself though, more for id.

Im in Scotland but the picture is definitely printed on the badge

Whatever the reason, you definitely need one now for a standard application.

Definite photo on card in England with name
Plus a seperate paper clock

What is wrong with some elderly people. I got one for my late Mum who was fine with it as long as she didnt need to fill in any forms! Its not always for their benefit and a lot of older people become very selfish and stubborn. They never see anyone elses point of view.

Rant over!

Scotland here. My husband's cousin applied for it. She had attendance allowance. Had to go for a face to face assessment and she apparently just qualified. Here in Edinburgh you can't apply again for a year if you don't get it which would have been awful in her case as she was diagnosed a few weeks later with MND and is now housebound 8 months on. Her mobility deteriorated quickly so I think we would have had to fight to get her reassessed.
The council do write to the GP. I had a call about a patient once as they were a bit dubious about his claim and it was clear this person didn't need a badge.

Yes I remember that you needed to be very organised with scanned medical letters etc on pdf, knowing when to attach them etc.

I applied for ine for my daughter. The first one was rejected-turns out that if you use the correct jargon, then u will be more successful. Someone from my daughters SEN school filled out certain parts of the form and it was accepted. She also has physiotherapy (via NHS) and she also did a covering letter via email. I also sent in the copy part of the prescription. I dont know if it's any different from children and adults, but it did say a GP letter wont be accepted, it would need to be a specialist. Im assuming your MIL will have had therapy of some type after her op? Im in Essex and its known to be tricky to get a badge here

The Age UK people were just brilliant with helping my mum get the Attendance Allowance she needed - could you maybe sidestep the issue of who the person works for in explaining it to the in-laws?
The guy who came to us was pretty forthright because he was well used to independent-minded older people downplaying their incapacity. So if she gave a breezy ‘of course I can get out of bed by myself’ he would question if that was always the case, for example. That’s how I found out my mum sometimes took two hours to get herself out of bed in the mornings 😲. Without this guy the application would absolutely have been rejected- as it was, the allowance paid for a cleaner, an emergency ‘necklace’ alarm, a self-raising armchair, taxis and ultimately carers, which all ensured she could live by herself for longer - so much cheaper for society in the long run.

I've done my Dad's application for him and a couple of renewals, He would definitely have struggled with it himself as he's not tech savvy at all but it was easy enough one you've gathered all the paperwork together. The ID photo was taken on my mobile.

The last one did get kicked back to us for not having enough evidence (even though I'd sent the same stuff prior) so he got his medical records printed out at the GPs and I then scanned them and sent them over. He's never had an in person assessment (jinxing that for next time I suppose).

I also keep a pdf copy of the application so I can remember what I put when it comes around to the next renewal.

It's an absolute lifeline for him.

Yes it's that difficult here. The form is ridiculously long and they want evidence. My parent needed to get a letter from the doctor (£50!) despite having the same issue as the last application, and the one before, when they accepted a copy of a prescription as evidence. This time it wasn't good enough. They are 86 and there's no way they'd have managed to do it on their own.

We applied for our(at the time) 92 year old mum 2 years ago, we also submitted for her 90 year old neighbour and to be honest both went through pretty easily. I don’t know when renewal will be - however I can’t see it being an issue at their ages.