What is a Blue Badge and eligibility
The Blue Badge scheme is for people with severe mobility problems to access goods and services by allowing them to park close to where they need to go.
The person with the Blue Badge can use it when they are driving or are a passenger in a car. Other people such as friends or relatives cannot use the badge unless you are travelling with them.
Do I qualify for a Blue Badge?
You are eligible (‘eligible without further assessment’) for a Blue Badge if you are aged 3 and over and at least one of the following applies:
- You receive the higher rate of the mobility component of the Disability Living Allowance (DLA)
- You receive a Personal Independence Payment (PIP) because you can’t walk more than 50 metres (a score of 8 points or more under the ‘moving around’ activity of the mobility component)
- You receive the mobility component of Personal Independence Payment (PIP) and have obtained 10 points specifically for descriptor E under the ‘planning and following journeys’ activity, on the grounds that you are unable to undertake any journey because it would cause you overwhelming psychological distress. (If you have any score other than 10 points under descriptor E, in the ‘planning and following journeys’ activity of PIP, you may still be eligible for a Blue Badge, but you do not automatically qualify. This includes if you have a higher score of 12.)
- You are registered blind (severely sight impaired)
- You receive a War Pensioners’ Mobility Supplement
- You receive a grant from an integrated care board for vehicle provision (specifically - you are in receipt of a grant pursuant to paragraph 10(3) of Schedule 1 to the National Health Service Act 2006 or section 46 of the National Health Service (Scotland) Act 1978)
- You have received a lump sum benefit within tariff levels 1 to 8 of the Armed Forces and Reserve Forces (Compensation) Scheme and have been certified as having a permanent and substantial disability that causes inability to walk or very considerable difficulty in walking.
You will have to provide evidence to demonstrate your eligibility which will be assessed as part of your application.
You may be eligible (‘eligible subject to further assessment’) for a Blue Badge if one or more of the following applies:
- You cannot walk at all
- You cannot walk without help from someone else or using mobility aids
- You find walking very difficult due to pain, breathlessness or the time it takes
- Walking is dangerous to your health and safety
- You have a life limiting illness, which means you cannot walk or find walking very difficult and have a SR1 form
- You have a severe disability in both arms and drive regularly, but cannot operate pay-and-display parking machines
- You are constantly a significant risk to yourself or others near vehicles, in traffic or car parks
- You struggle severely to plan or follow a journey
- You find it difficult or impossible to control your actions and lack awareness of the impact you could have on others
- You regularly have intense and overwhelming responses to situations causing temporary loss of behavioural control
- You frequently become extremely anxious or fearful of public/open spaces
Any of the above types of difficulty whilst walking could potentially be caused by a physical disability, or by a non-visible (‘hidden’) disability. In either case, the disability experienced must endure for at least three years.
- You have a child under the age of 3 with a medical condition that means the child always needs to be accompanied by bulky medical equipment
- You have a child under the age of 3 with a medical condition that means the child must always be kept near a vehicle in case they need emergency medical treatment
As part of the application/renewal assessment process, you will also need to provide proof of identity and residency as well as evidence and information to support your application on your condition/disability.
Please see the applying or renewing page on which sets out what you need to apply and how to submit a Blue Badge application. You can apply for yourself, someone else or an organisation.
Other travel options
You may wish to also look into the following travel options:
Taxi-card – Subsidised door to door travel, providing Black Taxi and Private Hire Vehicles to those who might find it difficult or impossible to access other modes of transport
Dial-a-ride – Free door to door minibus scheme run by TfL for people with mobility problems
Disabled persons Freedom Pass – Free use public transport for people with mobility problems
