Councils given more power to tackle disabled parking system abuse

Blue badge fraud can cost the UK an estimated £46m a year

Councils are being given more powers to tackle drivers who abuse the disabled parking system, as part of the most comprehensive changes to the Blue Badge scheme for 40 years.

Blue Badges help over 2.5 million disabled people every year by prioritising key parking spaces close to important services. However, increasing levels of badge fraud mean those who genuinely need to use these parking spaces often find themselves displaced by people who do not.

In addition, the Government estimates that badge fraud is now costing the UK an estimated £46m a year.

New measures, which will start to come into force from April this year, include providing local authorities with an on-the-spot power to recover badges that have been cancelled and misused, shared administration between authorities resulting in faster renewals, reduced abuse and operational efficiency savings of up to £20m a year and the  replacement of handwritten badges with standard electronic ones which are harder to alter and forge.

Also, wider use of independent mobility assessments to determine eligibility, including where previously that assessment was carried out by a GP and support for this by giving local authorities control of NHS spend on Blue Badge assessments and extending the scheme to more disabled children under three years old and severely disabled Armed Forces personnel and veterans and removing residency requirements for disabled service personnel and their families who are posted overseas on UK bases.

The maximum fee for a badge that local authorities can charge will rise from £2 to £10 to finance the improvements. This is the first increase in cost for 30 years and the Government believes that, in return, badge holders will benefit from less abuse, improved accessibility and better customer services.

Transport Minister Norman Baker said: "Such are the high levels of fraud in the current system that 50 per cent of Blue Badge holders now find it difficult to get a parking space."

Further information:
Department for Transport