Advice

Applying for a Blue Badge

If you, or the person you care for, are disabled or have a health condition affecting your mobility, you may be eligible for a Blue Badge to help you park closer to your destination. You can also apply for a badge if you care for a child with a health condition.

You can find out more about Blue Badge parking in York here.

Automatic eligibility

You automatically qualify for a Blue Badge if you are aged 3 or 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 received a score of 8 points or more under the ‘moving around’ activity of the mobility component
• you are registered blind (severely sight impaired)
• you receive a War Pensioners’ Mobility Supplement
• you receive the mobility component of PIP and have obtained 10 points specifically for descriptor E under the ‘planning and following journeys’ activity. Check your PIP decision letter if you’re not sure.
• 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

If you are not automatically entitled

You may still be eligible for a 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 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
• 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

If you are not automatically eligible, your application will need to be assessed by your local council. To help them assess your application, you will be asked to provide extra information, including:

• relevant medication that you take
• relevant treatments that you receive or are due to receive
• healthcare or associated professionals that have been involved with the treatment of your condition

You will be asked if you want to provide supporting documents. This could be prescriptions, diagnosis letters or correspondence between professionals that treat your condition.

Your local council may also ask you to attend an assessment to help them decide whether you meet the eligibility criteria for a badge. If they decide that you are not eligible and you think that they did not take account of all the facts, you can ask them to consider your application again.

Applying for a Blue Badge

You can apply for or renew your Blue Badge online here on GOV.UK.

If you are unable to complete an online application, you can contact City of York Council to request a postal application form.

An application fee of £10 is payable to the issuing local council.

We may be able to help if you need support to make a Blue Badge application – email us at enquiries@yorkcarerscentre.co.uk or call us on 01904 715 490.