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Blue badge permit 'shocking disparity' revealed

In January 2021, the BBC Shared Data Unit worked with the Local Democracy Reporting Service to report people with non-visible disabilities such as autism or Parkinson's disease faced what a charity called a "shocking disparity" when applying for a blue badge parking permit.

Scores of councils had lower approval rates for non-visible disabilities applications compared to those for physical impairments.

Non-visible disability applications began in England in August 2019.

The Department for Transport (DfT) said it would review their impact.

James Taylor, from the disability charity Scope, said: "This new data shows a shocking disparity between the allocations of blue badges to people with invisible and visible impairments."

The National Autistic Society said the results showed how important it was for councils to improve training to ensure staff understood when people should be entitled to a "lifeline" blue badge.

The removal of accessible parking bays next to shops and amenities "overnight, without any consultation" to allow for social distancing during the Covid-19 pandemic had also had a "massive impact" on disabled people, Scope said.

Applications for people with cognitive impairments were already considered in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Method

The BBC Shared Data Unit obtained Freedom of Information Act (FOI) responses from the 216 upper-tier councils across the UK via the WhatDoTheyKnow website.

Of the 109 councils who gave full responses, eight out of 10 had higher approval rates for people with physical impairments. For ten of those councils, the difference was greater than 50 percentage points.

Data and sources

The data and background methodology released to partners are available here:

Interviews and quotes

  • James Taylor, executive director strategy impact and social change at disability equality charity Scope
  • Tim Nicholls, head of policy and public affairs at the National Autistic Society
  • Paul Edwards, director of clinical services at Dementia UK
  • Councillor David Renard, transport spokesperson for the Local Government Association
  • The Department for Transport
  • Cumbria County Council
  • Portsmouth City Council
  • Durham County Council
  • Coventry City Council
  • Nottinghamshire County Council
  • Rochdale Borough Council
  • Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council

Partner usage

The Shared Data Unit makes data journalism available to the wider news industry as part of the BBC Local News Partnership. Stories written by partners based on this research included:

The story featured on BBC front, home and England pages. It was also used by BBC North West Tonight, BBC East Midlands Today, BBC Midlands Today, BBC Look North, BBC Somerset, BBC Radio Shropshire, BBC Radio York, BBC Radio Tees, BBC Radio Leicester, BBC Radio Sheffield, BBC Radio Berkshire, BBC Radio Manchester, BBC CWR, BBC Three Counties Radio, BBC Radio Oxford and BBC Radio Bradford. It also led to a further report for BBC West Midlands online: Blue badge denied: Stourbridge mum feels 'worthless'.

Other usage

Cited again in September 2024

Related repos

You can find all coronavirus-related stories by the BBC data units tagged 'coronavirus' here