In February the Government announced a programme of reforms to modernise the Blue Badge scheme. The measures are designed to tackle badge fraud and misuse, and to make the scheme fairer and more sustainable in the long term for those disabled people who rely on it.
In May, eligibility was extended to groups not previously covered by the scheme, such as more disabled children under three and severely disabled war veterans and service personnel. In addition, funding of badge eligibility assessments was transferred from the NHS to local authorities, from April 2011.
The Government’s modernisation programme also includes other changes, such as providing local authorities with an on-the-spot power to recover badges that have been cancelled and / or misused, and the replacement of handwritten badges with standard electronic ones which are harder to alter and forge.
The programme includes changes to the legislation enabling authorities to increase the maximum charge for a Blue Badge, from £2 to up to £10. The County Council have considered the options with regard to charging and will increase their charge to £10 from 1st January 2012 (payable once every three years).
To find out more about the Blue Badge reform go to
http://www.dft.gov.uk/transportforyou/access/bluebadge/reform/
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