Getting a blue badge

[Worried1987]

Has anyone been successful in getting a discretionary blue badge. I was turned down for PIP even though I do have a lot of difficulty walking and getting around. I should have appealed at the time but I didn’t feel able to at the time.

It seems that getting PIP is one of the criteria for getting a blue badge but you can be awarded one without. What do you need to do?

F

I've had a BB for over 10 years and don't get PIP. Just fill out the form, provide as much evidence as you can. You might get an assessment, I did but only after 5 years and apparently it was just a random one.

You need to evidence your lack of mobility.
Via GP or other professionals.

If you get PIP you need the mobility bit of PIP for automatic blue badge. I think.

If you don't get PIP you need to show lack of mobility.

My Mum has had one for a few years. She doesn't have a PIP. Her GP initiated it in some way - I'm not sure how but he must have had the forms available. It was submitted to our local authority who called her for a telephone 'interview' and was very straight forward. However, hers is for severe asthma and that is very evident if you talk to her over the phone.

It varies council by council, I believe. Where we live getting PIP automatically gets you a blue badge (DW has one).

If you do not get any PIP, then you need as much evidence (preferably medical) to back up your lack of mobility as you can get.

Thank you everyone. My local council just links to the national government site. I am going to have a physiotherapy assessment soon so hopefully that can count towards my evidence. It is a mixture of walking difficulties and my eyesight. I fall over a lot and I probably should be getting more help than I do but it is so difficult

There should be an application form on your local council's website. Fill it in with information about how you're affected, have trouble walking safely/over any distance, breathlessness, pain etc and submit it with any doctors letters etc that you have. I think you need to include your GP surgery details so the council can contact them if more info is needed.

My husband was recently awarded a Discretionary blue badge so it's definitely possible.

Good luck.

I did it for DM long before she got PIP (she has it now) for similar reasons and she got accepted immediately based on what we wrote in the discretionary section.

Funnily enough, I've just renewed it and it seemed more difficult to get it with the amount of paperwork I needed to upload, than it did without PIP 😂

Dh has tried to apply for bb , was turned down and now awaiting a review. Likewise scored 0 for pip. However it is very much a tick box exercise and you need independent evidence of your long term limitations if you do not have a specific qualifying condition. 80m maximum seems to be the magic distance. Difficult to demonstrate if you are not receiving ongoing physio or gp care. Your medical notes might be useful as a starting point.

Criteria for getting a blue badge vary between different local authorities, so it depends on your local council. Where I live you don't have to be in receipt of PIP to be eligible for a BB but you do have to provide evidence of why you need it e.g. reduced mobility.

How bad is your eyesight? I got one without needing a face to face assessment on the basis of being registered partially sighted.

I get PIP but was turned down for a Blue Badge! Figure that one out

do you get the mobility bit?

i got my blue badge before i got pip... you apply via your local council, explain your circumstances and pay your £10 or whatever it is now.. i littrally applied on a thursday night and on friday morning i had my email confirming my application was successful, but i do know this isn't the case for all councils.

i only recently got awarded pip, and this was all thanks to the help i got from the council. We applied for a carers badge for my husband through the council, upon application they gave him a case worker and when we said we didnt get pip they then helped us fill in the form.

i think the pip application is very flawed, because unless you actually know what information they want, you will never put the right information on there and thats how they get to refuse so many people! i had previously been declined for pip, but after the support from the council, even though i pretty much said the same thing, but in a different way even i was supprised when i got 9 points!

not everyone on pip needs a blue badge! and not everyone with a blue badge is entitled to pip

GPs used to authorise BBs, they don't anymore.

It’s not just about mobility now, though. Invisible conditions are take into account too

Get help with your benefits applications and blue badge application from citizens advice. My mum did and got both her benefits and the blue badge about a month later.

@Bignanna that is true but you still need evidence that it affects your mobility

He didn't authorise it. He just made the suggestion and helped initiate the process. As I said, it was submitted to the local authority.

I just got a blue badge for my mum. I had to send her summary care record from her GP and evidence of hospital letters (she has Parkinson's).

My Foster son gets PIP at the enhanced level for mobility because he can't go out alone due to learning disability. He has a mobility car yet I was declined a blue card. I appealed because I just need one to drop him off in college as with one I could drop in college disabled parking but can't without and the nearest carpark is almost half a mile away and I have to walk with him across 2 very busy roads twice a day during rush hour. They just say nothing because he doesn't have a problem walking but does have an issue walking safely and can't do it unless he is accompanied. I thought it was just my council being awkward.

My dd used a physio letter to get a blue badge, she has just renewed it but using PIP as well as physio (old letter).

I would reapply for PIP, if they refuse it then ask for reconsideration (my daughter had to do this also).

I applied for one for DD (11) in July. She receives child DLA (higher care lower mobility). She has a cerebral visual impairment and so is on the visual impairment register for Scotland. I applied under discretionary grounds. It was turned down because her autism doesnt present enough of a risk in traffic. Well no but her visual impairment does as per the diagnosis letter i gave them from the consultant outlining the issues DD faces with walking.

I mentioned it to her child development consultant last month at her review. She said she would email the council.

I got a call from the council yesterday saying her badge application had been reviewed and now approved and I would receive it soon. I don't know what the Dr said to them but it seems to have worked.

I have not applied for Pip so was dubious that I would get a BB and put off applying for one. Eventually called my local authority - lady was lovely and said yes as soon as I told her the diagnosis and got the badge a few days later with no medical evidence.

When I renewed it this year I took the precaution of getting a very short two line letter from the doctor and that was sufficient.

Having the BB is a massive help as although I can walk (further than the strict requirement on some days) I use crutches so can't get in the car if I am in a normal space - so the badge is a massive help - just frustrating that there are only 3 disabled spaces in the one car park I can drive to and they are often filled by SUVs without badges so I drive home again....

I don't have a blue badge. I do have a disabled bus pass though, obtained by a letter from my neurologist recommending I don't drive. I work part-time too.