Can we record Blue Badge assessment?

harveybobbles

Asking on behalf of friend.

They have reapplied for a Blue Badge from their local council under the descretion rules.

Current BB was awarden under discretion last time and is due for renewal.

This time they have been invited to a 30 minute assessment by Occy Health, which is, to quote "to see if they can walk down a corridor"

Sounds like utter madness to me!

Can this 30 minute assessment be recorded (audio)

sheeps68

harveybobbles wrote: »

Asking on behalf of friend.

They have reapplied for a Blue Badge from their local council under the descretion rules.


This time they have been invited to a 30 minute assessment by Occy Health, which is, to quote "to see if they can walk down a corridor"

Sounds like utter madness to me!

Can this 30 minute assessment be recorded (audio)

It sounds as if somehow 2 different issues have got muddled together. Your friends work occupational health department will not have any influence on the provision of a blue badge even making the assumption they work for that authority. The work occ. health department is about if they are fit for their employment and if adjustments are needed. Usually when there has been periods of prolonged or repeated sickness.

Blue Badges are assessed by dedicated assessment centres if they do not automatically qualify by other descriptors/

Richie-from-the-Boro

Dft cover BB assessment criteria guidelines. The normal BB application is processed by a desk based assessor and the 'subject to further assessment criteria' is completed by a face-to-face interview with an independent mobility assessor. That mobility assessor will collect you from the waiting area, you may well be observed walking to the interview room [distance / speed / gait] you will be asked to describe their mobility impairment, including medical details, and the impact it has upon your ability to get around, when completed you again may be observed leaving the assessment room/centre.

The decision will be made on :

- Observed manner of walking
- Walking aids
- Speed of walking
- Distance the applicant is able to walk
- Pain reported by the applicant
- Breathlessness

The 'subject to further assessment criteria' is usually a local authority appointed physio or similarly medically qualified practitioner who in this case may work indeed work in OccY Health. The above criteria are just guidelines that local authorities are encouraged to use in the development of their own assessment tools. Each LA is responsible for their own assessment procedures in line with the legislation that governs the Blue Badge scheme.

Hope this helps !

harveybobbles

sheeps68 wrote: »

It sounds as if somehow 2 different issues have got muddled together. Your friends work occupational health department will not have any influence on the provision of a blue badge even making the assumption they work for that authority. The work occ. health department is about if they are fit for their employment and if adjustments are needed. Usually when there has been periods of prolonged or repeated sickness.

Blue Badges are assessed by dedicated assessment centres if they do not automatically qualify by other descriptors/

Should have made myself clearer.. Its the local Council who have referred it for assessment with Innovate Heathcare and will be assessed for BB by Occy Health.

Richie-from-the-Boro

harveybobbles wrote: »

Should have made myself clearer.. Its the local Council who have referred it for assessment with Innovate Heathcare and will be assessed for BB by Occy Health.

- its quite normal my friend, they provide contact services for lots of organisations worldwide
- including occy heath but in this case I assume their occy health is working for your local authority
- so an O/T or Physio or similarly medically qualified practitioner working for Innovate will do the test
- this is the sort of thing your friend will have filled in after being refused a desk based BB renewal
- under the new rules previously qualification is no guarantee under the new system

A BB issue cycle of 36 months means by definition 2/3'ds of those opinions will not yet have been subject to the new assessment regime which only began in Jan this year. You used to be able to get a blue badge for almost anything, its now based on walking only - just walking !. You used to be able to get one for just being old or needing a wider space to open your door wide, all those cop-outs are gone - walking test only. Why you want to record it I've no idea, if you are allowed to record it I've no idea. Bottom line is if they are refused they probably do not deserve one, and there are more spaces for those who are truly deserving.

If you strip out the 'without further assessment ' entitlement of :

- those who are more than two years old and fall within one or more of the following descriptions
- receives the HRM DLA ; or
- earns 8 points or more under the “moving around” activity of the mobility component of PIP, or ;
- is registered blind [severely sight impaired]; or
- receives a War Pensioner’s Mobility Supplement [WPMS]; or
- has an award tariff of 1-8 of the AFCS plus is certified as having a permanent and substantial walking disability

You are left with the tough 'with further assessment ' rules applied locally to a national standard by O/T's etc appointed by your local authority. So you either get the 8 points on the desk based pre-assessment filter or you go to the very considerably more thorough face to face O/T assessment. Its 8 points - 8 points - 8 points.

There is no appeal against refusal but I always recommend putting in a request for a reconsideration with a different practitioner.

Best of luck my friend !

merlin68

Why would you need to record it you either get one or you dont. I had my assessment before being awarded hr mobility and ot was lovely. Only had to walk length of car park.

harveybobbles

It's just because they have been through ATOS a few years ago for DLA and they are thinking its going to be the same as that.

nellypolly

There is no appeal for blue badges now it means you don't reach the criteria all the rules

rules
have changed not given out has many badges now thankfully

rogerblack

Richie-from-the-Boro wrote: »

Each LA is responsible for their own assessment procedures in line with the legislation that governs the Blue Badge scheme.

Hope this helps !

The legislation differs in scotland and england.
In england a test not unlike the DLA walking test is used - though not properly defined - with one of the tests being 'virtually unable to walk'.
In Scotland, this is absent, with 'unable to walk' being the only criteria.
I don't know if in practice the assessments differ, but legislatively, this is a much tougher test.

Which reminds me, i need to get the council to tell me if they've gtot my application from several months ago.

Richie-from-the-Boro

rogerblack wrote: »

The legislation differs in Scotland and england.
In england a test not unlike the DLA walking test is used - though not properly defined - with one of the tests being 'virtually unable to walk'.
In Scotland, this is absent, with 'unable to walk' being the only criteria.
I don't know if in practice the assessments differ, but legislatively, this is a much tougher test.

Which reminds me, i need to get the council to tell me if they've gtot my application from several months ago.

HiYa rogerblack,

The legislation differs in Scotland and England.

TfS do the Scotland and Dft do the England. As I'm often fond of saying I post on English only unless I specifically mention Wales or Scotland. My understanding on Scotland was that its in this thread is that Scotland does require an applicant to be “unable to walk” or “virtually unable to walk.” so thanks for that my friend.

3.2 Subject to further assessment - Glasgow - Scotland : You may be referred for an Independent Medical Assessment where your eligibility under the 'unable to walk or virtually unable to walk' criteria is uncertain. In these cases, applications may take up to 28 working days to be completed.