To not understand why it takes so long to get a Blue Badge

[LumpyandBumps]

My friend was awarded PIP for mobility needs. Bearing in mind that PIP claims are not quick, and there is also the 3 month qualifying period, she has needed help for a while. She can walk, but only for very short distances before having to stop due to pain.
We applied for her Blue Badge the day she received her PIP award notice. Her old car failed its MOT a few days later, and she arranged a lease car using her PIP.
Nearly 8 weeks later the car remains largely unused as she still doesn’t have her Blue Badge.
There is no doubt she is entitled to it. She was told on her PIP notice that she would automatically qualify for one.
The local county council website states it can take ‘up to 12 weeks’ It’s not been quite that so far. Whilst I realise that some cases are more complex and investigation is required to prevent abuse of the system, in her case the decision regarding entitlement has already been made. It is the modern day equivalent of a rubber stamp.
The only place she can currently park is our local Tesco. They gave her a temporary pass to display when we showed them her PIP notice.

I think it varies from council to council, ours are fast. I applied, was sent for an OT assessment and rejected all within 10 days. I don't have an automatic entitlement, despite having a motability car.

It should be fast for those who score the right points for automatic entitlement

That's - in my experience - a "her local council" issue. Both my late parents got theirs within a fortnight and a close friend in a different authority recently got hers within 10 days.

I think there has probably been an error. She should chase it up.

Has she actually filled in the forms? You will automatically get it but you still need to do the application. It should be really quick, in my experience. My Mum got hers within a week of filling the forms. And she wasn't even on PIP.

I think she should chase it up with whoever the sent the forms to. It's not on to have to wait such a long time. They could have lost the forms or something?

That's awful, I applied last year and got it 4 days later.

It very much depends on the local procedure. Several years ago my mum got hers via her GP with very little trouble. (Heart failure and severe arthritis).
I applied for my FIL around about the same time, in another county, and it was a real battle. He had cancer and a stroke , but they insisted that I had to take him out in the freezing rain and snow, park wherever I could find a space in the council car park and bring him into the building so they could assess him. All the documents from the hospital and his GP were insufficient, apparently. I refused and had to get a further letter from each consultant. It took weeks. so a bit of a lottery it seems.

Just chase it up with the council. Ours has a blue badge team. Maybe they have lots of applications atm but they will prioritise it if you kick up a fuss.

My partner's first one took 12 weeks. The renewal (3 years later) took about 3 weeks. But as PP say, it's all down to the local authority. In our local authority, it's one person dealing with them all, with a constant massive backlog...

They have an automatic entitlement due to the points given on the mobility element of PIP

Park in parent and child spaces where available if these are closer.

Slightly different as it was a renewal, but my mum’s took 4 months last year - there was no investigation or further info needed, the delay was purely due to a backlog. When she submitted she got an automated email to say her current badge would be valid for an additional 3 months due to the delays.

Yes, we completed the forms online, paid and provided photo, etc.
The council website says up to 12 weeks. I assumed that was standard, but it seems a bit of a postcode lottery.

When we applied for my MIL we were told it would be 16 weeks. It was slightly more!

Online application - badge received 4 days later. Automatically qualified due to award of mobiility allowance so no additional assessment required.

I think different councils have different criteria . My dh got his blue badge before he got his pip .

It must just be area. I applied for one for one of my clients this week under automatic route due to having more than 8 points on the moving around descriptor and it was awarded within days. same with disabled persons travel pass. Even discretionary ones are being awarded within 10 days in our county.

The only thing they don't have different criteria for is when there is an automatic entitlement, that is set at government level.

It is different in Scotland to England as well, no idea about the others.

The first time round I applied online (I had the PIP points) and my Blue Badge arrived a week later. I emailed to say thank you for an excellent service.

It has been the renewals that have been a bit stressful.