Blue Badge Regulations

The Disabled Persons Blue Badge scheme is administered by Local Authorities. It provides parking concessions for disabled people to enable them to park without charge or time limit in otherwise restricted on-street environments (on-street parking meters, pay-and-display, disabled parking bays) and to park on yellow lines in England for up to three hours.

The scheme has existed since 1971 and facilitates access for 2.6 million disabled people.

The primary legislation governing the scheme is section 21 of the Chronically Sick and Disabled Persons Act 1970 (the 1970 Act); and sections 115 and 117 of the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984 (the 1984 Act).

Unless otherwise stated, all references in these Notes to “section 21” are references to the 1970 Act. Section 21 makes provision for matters to be prescribed by regulations which are subject to annulment by resolution of either House of Parliament.

The Disabled Persons (Badges for Motor Vehicles) (England) Regulations 2000 (SI 2000/682) are the relevant regulations as regards England.

The equivalent Welsh regulations are the Disabled Persons (Badges for Motor Vehicles) (Wales) Regulations 2000 (SI 2000/1786).

Section 21 provides that regulations may make provision for the following matters:

Form of badge
Description of disabled person to whom a badge may be issued
Circumstances and manner in which a badge may be displayed
Period of issue of a badge
Circumstances in which a badge must be returned
Cases in which an authority may refuse to issue badges
Fee which may be charged for the issue of a badge
Conditions (relating to the misuse of badges) which must be met if an authority is to refuse the issue of badge
Conditions (relating to the misuse of badges) which must be met if an authority is to require the return of a badge
Procedure for appeals in certain circumstances
Badges issued outside Great Britain which may be recognised

Subsections (4BA), (4BD) and (4B), respectively, provide constables and enforcement officers with power to inspect badges; make it an offence not to produce a badge for inspection when required to do so; and make it an offence to drive a vehicle displaying a disabled person’s badge that is not issued under section 21 and displayed in accordance with the regulations made under it.

Section 117 of the 1984 Act makes it an offence to park a vehicle displaying a disabled person’s badge that is not issued under section 21 and displayed in accordance with the regulations made under it.

Section 115 of the 1984 Act makes it an offence to use, lend or allow use of a Blue Badge with intent to deceive or to make or have in one’s possession anything so closely resembling a Blue Badge as to be calculated to deceive.

The substantial financial value of a badge is contributing to both increasing demand for badges and the incentive to commit fraud and abuse the scheme. This includes the forgery of badges; the failure to return and/or the continued use of badges after the validity period has expired or after the death of the badge holder; and the misuse of genuine badges by unauthorised persons in circumstances in which the disabled badge holder does not obtain any benefit.

The National Fraud Authority estimate abuse of the scheme to be costing Local Authorities some £46m per annum in lost parking revenue. The Act represents the final part of a programme of reforms – developed in cooperation with Local Authorities and disability groups – intended to modernise and improve the scheme by addressing limitations in the current legislation.

In January 2012, the Government introduced a national Information and Communication Technology (ICT) system to aid the administration and enforcement of the scheme. For this to operate effectively, the status of badges held on the system must be accurately recorded. Currently, the 1970 Act and SI 2000/682 provide for the circumstances in which a badge must be returned and is no longer valid for use.

However, the 1970 Act includes no explicit power for an authority to cancel a badge that is no longer in the possession of the holder e.g. when it has been lost or stolen. The adoption of such a power will avoid doubt as to the legal status of such a badge and should facilitate access for enforcement authorities to more reliable data as to the status of badges upon interrogation of the national ICT system.

Subsection (4BB) of section 21 provides a power for constables and specified enforcement officers to inspect badges. The effect of the definitions (which cross-refer to other legislation) is such that, for all practical purposes, the power applies only to uniformed enforcement officers. This denies Local Authorities the flexibility of using officers in plain clothes, such as specialist fraud teams.

Section 21(6) states that a badge shall remain the property of the issuing authority. However, the 1970 Act contains no power for Local Authorities to recover badges. The practical effect of this is that, when presented with a badge that is required to be returned, being misused or fake, an enforcement officer is obliged to return it to an offender.

Section 21(4B) provides that a person who drives a motor vehicle on a road (within the meaning of the Road Traffic Act 1988) at a time when a badge purporting to be of a form prescribed under section 21 is displayed on the vehicle is guilty of an offence unless the badge is issued under section 21 and displayed in accordance with regulations made under it. Section 117 of the 1984 Act provides for a similar offence.

However, it is not clear if these offences apply in circumstances in which a badge is not returned in accordance with regulations made under section 21(6) and/or section 21(7A)(b) of the 1970 Act and continues to be displayed. This is unsatisfactory as the meaning of provisions that concern criminal offences should be unambiguous.

The current requirement in section 21(1) for the Secretary of State to prescribe the badge design in regulations has the effect of requiring the disclosure of certain high-security features of the badge which ought not to be a matter of public record.

This compromises the security of the scheme. In addition, the requirement to prescribe badge design by regulation constrains the ability of the Secretary of State to react quickly in circumstances in which it becomes necessary to change the badge design to frustrate forgery.

Currently section 21(2) provides that a badge may be issued to a disabled person of any prescribed description “resident in the area of the issuing authority”. This excludes members of HM Armed Forces and their families posted to UK bases overseas who have ceased to be resident in any issuing authority. The Armed Forces Covenant is committed to rectifying this by establishing the MoD as an issuing authority for these people.

Sections 21(7C) and (7E) of the 1970 Act provide a limited right of appeal to the Secretary of State in circumstances in which a Local Authority has refused an application for a badge or required a badge to be returned, in each case, for reasons relating to the misuse of badges.

The right of appeal is of limited use to applicants because it does not apply to all the decisions that an issuing authority may make in cases which may be prescribed under section 21(7)(a) in which the issue of a badge may be refused. In particular, the right of appeal does not apply to decisions concerning eligibility in circumstances in which eligibility is not automatic.

The right is also of limited use to badge holders because it does not apply to all the decisions that an authority may make in circumstances which may be prescribed under section 21(6) in which a badge must be returned. In consequence, only one or two appeals are made each year.

These involve an inappropriate diversion of central government resources. In practice, given the limited nature of the right of appeal to the Secretary of State, most complaints concerning Local Authority decisions about the Blue Badge scheme are resolved by the Local Government Ombudsman pursuant to existing powers contained in Part III of the Local Government Act 1974.