National statistics

Disability, accessibility and blue badge statistics, England, 2022 to 2023

Published 11 January 2024

Applies to England

About this release

This publication includes both Accredited Official Statistics, and statistics derived from external organisations, which fall outside the Official Statistics process.

Accredited Official Statistics are called National Statistics in the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007. For more details, see the Accredited Official Statistics Policy.

This statistical release presents transport related disability and accessibility statistics in England, drawn from a variety of data sources. It combines the disability and accessibility and Blue Badge statistics that were published separately in previous years. The way in which information on disability is collected can vary by data source. A summary of the definitions used can be found in the ‘Background’ section of this report.

For more details about these statistics, see the ‘About these statistics’ section.

Blue Badge prosecutions statistics

Last year we ceased the collection and publication of statistics on blue badge prosecutions as part of this statistical release. While we received a small number of expressions of disappointment in this decision, it appears that these statistics were not widely used, and we therefore do not intend to resume producing these statistics for the foreseeable future. We continue to welcome feedback on this decision. For more details on the responses received, please see the background notes at the end of this release.

We are now providing our statistics releases in HTML format. As part of making this change to the release, we have also made some other changes to the format and content of the release. We would like to hear your comments on these changes. If you have any feedback, please contact the disability statistics team.

Headline Statistics

Statistics on trips taken by disabled people are obtained from the National Travel Survey (NTS).

In 2022:

• disabled adults in England made 25% fewer trips than non-disabled adults. This difference was broadly in line with previous years
• this difference was smaller amongst the 16 to 59 age range (14%) than amongst the over 60s (35%)
• disabled adults in England made an average of 686 trips per person, compared to 916 for non-disabled adults

Statistics on parking badges for disabled people (‘Blue Badges’) in England are obtained from the Blue Badge Digital Service (BBDS) database.

As at 31 March 2023:

• 2.57 million Blue Badges were held, an increase of 5.7% since March 2022
• 4.6% of the population held a Blue Badge

Between 1 April 2022 and 31 March 2023:

• 1.14 million badges were issued, an increase of 101,000 badges (9.7%) on the previous year. This figures includes badges issued followed reapplications from existing badge holders
• this increase is likely to be in part due to recovery from the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic
• 39% of these were issued without further assessment

National Travel Survey findings

About the National Travel Survey

The National Travel Survey (NTS) is a continuous household survey which collects detailed information on personal travel within Great Britain. The data is collected via a face to face interview and a 7-day travel diary on a representative sample of private households in England. It is used to look at the travel patterns of different groups as well as long term trends.

Fieldwork for the NTS 2022 survey continued to be impacted by the coronavirus pandemic, with data collection operating using the same knock-to-nudge method as in 2021 for the first three months of 2022 due to the emergence of the Omicron variant in late 2021. From April onwards, the survey returned to operating a face-to-face methodology with a phone back-up where this was not possible. More details can be found on the National Travel Survey web pages.

NTS estimates are Accredited Official Statistics.

National Travel Survey definition of disability

From 2018 a person is considered to have a disability in the NTS if they report any physical or mental health condition or illness that lasts or is expected to last 12 months or more, and which limits their ability to carry out day-to-day activities. This is consistent with the core definition of disability under the Equality Act 2010, and complies with harmonised standards for social surveys published in August 2011. Some people classified as disabled and having rights under the Equality Act 2010 are not captured by this definition. This includes people with a long-standing illness or disability which is not currently affecting their day-to-day activities.

People living in care homes and other such as community living environments are not captured through the survey and therefore the survey may under estimate disability prevalence and the prevalence of different impairments. This is particularly true for older age groups.

NTS definitions - trips and main mode

The basic unit of travel in the NTS is a trip, which is defined as a one-way course of travel with a single main purpose. Trips consist of one or more stages; a new stage is defined when there is a change in the mode of transport.

Where a trip consists of multiple stages, the main mode is the transport mode for the stage with the longest distance travelled.

Number of trips taken in 2022 by age and disability status

Chart 1: Number of trips per person by disability status and age: England, 2022 - DIS0401

Chart 1, which is a grouped bar chart, shows that in 2022 disabled adults (aged 16 years and over) in England made 686 trips per person, compared to 916 for non-disabled adults. The difference was smaller for those aged under 60, where disabled adults took 14% fewer trips (781 trips per person compared to 911). Disabled adults aged 60 or over took 35% fewer trips than non-disabled adults aged 60 or over (602 trips per person compared to 932). The differences between travel patterns for disabled and non-disabled adults have remained similar for the last few years.

Trends in number of trips taken over time

Chart 2: Number of trips per person per year by disability status: England, 2018 to 2022 - DIS0401

Care should be taken when interpreting this data and comparing to other years, due to changes in the methodology of data collection, changes in travel behaviour and a reduction of data collected during 2020 to 2022, as a result of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic is likely to have had a continued effect on travel patterns in 2022, though this effect is likely to have been smaller than in 2021 and 2020. As a result, Chart 2, which is a grouped bar chart, shows that the average number of trips taken per person is below pre-pandemic levels, but has increased substantially compared to 2021.

For disabled adults, the number of trips taken in 2022 increased by 15% compared to 2021, but was still 9% below 2019.

For non-disabled adults, the number of trips taken in 2022 increased by 12% compared to 2021, but was still 10% below 2019.

Despite the reduction in the average number of trips taken since the pandemic, the difference between disabled and non-disabled adults has remained similar over the last few years. Before COVID-19, disabled adults took 25 to 30% fewer trips on average than non-disabled adults. This remained largely unchanged during the pandemic. This suggests that on the whole, the pandemic did not lead to a greater reduction in travel for disabled adults compared with non-disabled adults.

Mode of travel

Chart 3: Percentage of all trips by main mode and disability status, aged 16 and over: England, 2022 - DIS0402

Chart 3, which is a grouped bar chart, shows that compared with non-disabled adults, disabled adults took a higher proportion of their total trips (18% compared with 12%) as car passengers, while taking fewer trips as car drivers (40% compared with 48%). Both disabled and non-disabled adults made over half of all trips by car in 2022. On average disabled adults took a larger proportion of their trips by bus (6%) compared with non-disabled adults (4%).

Purpose of travel

Chart 4: Percentage of all trips by trip purpose and disability status, aged 16 and over: England, 2022 - DIS0403

Escort trips refer to trips where the traveler has no purpose of his or her own, other than to escort or accompany another person.

Chart 4 is a grouped bar chart, which shows that in 2022, the five most common trip reasons for disabled adults, in descending order, were shopping (28% of trips), visiting friends (16%), personal business (12%), commuting (8%) and education and escort education (7%).

For non-disabled adults, the five most common trip reasons were shopping (20%), commuting (18%), visiting friends (13%), education and escort education (8%) and personal business (8%).

In 2022, of the most common trip purposes, the largest difference between disabled and non-disabled adults was in trips for commuting purposes. These comprised 8% of trips for disabled adults, compared to 18% for non-disabled adults.

Work status

The difference between the average number of trips taken per year varied considerably depending on the individual’s work status. In 2022, disabled adults in full time work took 3% fewer trips, and those in part-time work took 8% fewer trips, than those who were not disabled, showing that travel patterns amongst disabled adults in work are similar to those of non-disabled adults in work.

However, disabled adults who were retired or permanently sick made 25% fewer trips than their non-disabled equivalents.

Car access

On average, in 2022, disabled adults in households with access to a car, and where they were the main driver, took more trips per person per year (879) than those in households without access to a car (493 trips), or those with access but who were a non-driver (565 trips). In 2022, 33% of disabled adults lived in households without access to a car, compared with 13% of non-disabled adults.

Driving licence holding

Chart 5: Percentage of adults holding a driving licence, by age and disability status: England, 2022 - DIS0407

Chart 5, which is a grouped bar chart, shows that 60% of disabled adults aged 17 or over held a full driving licence in 2022, compared with 79% of non-disabled adults in the same age group. Amongst both disabled and non-disabled adults, those with a full driving licence made more trips on average than those without one.

Type of disability

Chart 6: Average miles travelled and trips made by type of disability, aged 16 and over: England, 2022 - NTS0712

Those who reported more than one impairment are present in multiple categories.

Chart 6, which is a multiple bar chart, shows that in 2022, of those who declared one or more impairments, those who declared visual impairments travelled the fewest miles (2,985), followed by those who declared dexterity impairments (3,120). Those who declared mobility impairments made the fewest trips (646), followed by those who declared mental health conditions (657).

The average (mean) number of miles travelled by adults who declared at least one impairment was 3,976 in 2022.

Sex

In 2022, there was little difference in trip numbers by sex amongst disabled adults. This has also been the case since 2018.

Income

Chart 7: Number of trips per person by disability status and income quintile: England, 2022 - DIS0409

Chart 7 is a grouped bar chart, which shows that in 2022, the difference in travel patterns between disabled and non-disabled adults varied by income quintile.

The number of trips made by disabled adults in the lowest two income quintiles was around 30% lower than the number of trips made by non-disabled adults in the two lowest quintiles.

Disabled adults in the highest three income quintiles made around 15% fewer trips than non-disabled adults in the three highest quintiles.

An accessible alternative to this chart is provided below.

Table 1: Accessible alternative to Chart 7: Number of trips per person per year by disability status and income quintile: England, 2022 - DIS0409

Disability status	Quintile	Number of trips
Disabled	Lowest level	601
Disabled	Second level	628
Disabled	Third level	756
Disabled	Fourth level	822
Disabled	Highest level	807
Non-disabled	Lowest level	846
Non-disabled	Second level	917
Non-disabled	Third level	907
Non-disabled	Fourth level	964
Non-disabled	Highest level	920

Public satisfaction with local transport

National Highways and Transport Public Satisfaction Survey

The National Highways and Transport Public Satisfaction Survey collects public perspectives on, and satisfaction with, highway and transportation services on behalf of local authorities to inform performance management and local transport plans.

The survey was launched in 2008, and is carried out in July to August of each year. The latest data available are for 2022 and covered 109 local authorities in England.

The data at local authority level is captured through a randomly selected postal survey of households. However, because not all local authorities participate, the estimates may not be fully representative of the national picture. We have excluded London from the analysis because the coverage in London is low.

The disabled population in this survey are classified as those who have reported that they have a long-term illness, disability, or infirmity which limits their daily activities.

People living in care homes and other such as community living environments are not captured through the survey, which may impact on the satisfaction rates, particularly for the disabled population.

The figures in this section fall outside the Official Statistics process.

Chart 8: Percentage of people satisfied with various aspects of public transport, by disability status: England outside London, 2022

As Chart 8 shows, in 2022, compared with non-disabled people, disabled people:

• had similar levels of satisfaction with the provision of public transport information (45% compared with 47%). In both cases this represented a relatively sharp fall from the previous year, when the figures were 52% for disabled people and 54% for non-disabled people
• were more likely to be satisfied with taxis (66% compared with 61% among those who use taxis at least once a month). These figures were also decreases from the previous year, when the figures were 73% and 68%
• were less likely to be satisfied with pavements (44% compared with 53%), both in terms of provision and condition
• had similar levels of satisfaction with cycle routes and lanes (51% compared with 49%)

The differences been disabled and non-disabled people have been relatively consistent across the last few years of the survey. Overall levels of satisfaction with local transport and highways services were broadly in line with previous years.

Blue Badge statistics

About Blue Badge Statistics

Blue Badges are disabled parking cards issued by local authorities to help people with mobility issues park closer to the goods and services they need to use. In August 2019, Blue Badge scheme eligibility criteria were extended to include more people with non-visible and neurological disabilities that may affect their ability to access goods and services.

Blue Badges are issued according to need of the applicant and are not related to any specific condition. Anyone may be awarded a Blue Badge if they meet the scheme’s eligibility criteria. Badges can also be issued to organisations who transport people with disabilities. Upon issue, a Blue Badge is valid for a period of up to 3 years. Data on the number of Blue Badges held refers to the situation as at 31 March 2023.

Please refer to the quality report for more details.

Blue Badge statistics are Accredited Official Statistics.

Blue badges issued in the year ending March 2023

The number of badges issued includes those issued to people who did not hold previously hold a badge, and those resulting from reapplications from existing badge holders (badges usually last 3 years). As Chart 9 shows, there were 1.14 million Blue Badges issued in the year ending March 2023, an increase of 101,000 badges (9.7%) on the previous year. This increase is likely to partly reflect the continued recovery from coronavirus (COVID-19). The overall increase was primarily driven by a 15.5% increase in the number of badges issued subject to further assessment.

Of the badges issued, 4.0% (46,000 badges) were issued under the eligibility criteria for people with non-visible disabilities (introduced in August 2019). This is higher than in the year ending March 2022, when 2.5% (26,000) of all badges issued were for people with non-visible disabilities.

Chart 9: Blue Badges issued annually: England, since the year ending March 2009 - DIS0111

Data from before 2020 are not comparable to data from 2020 onwards, due to a change in the data collection methodology. For more details on this and other changes to methodology since 2010, see the quality report. Caution should be taken when comparing the data over time.

Out of the 1.14 million Blue Badges issued in the year ending March 2023, 685,000 (60%) were subject to further assessment, 445,000 (39%) were issued without further assessment and 7,000 (1%) were issued to organisations.

Out of the badges issued without further assessment, 94.1% were issued to those who met the relevant criteria under Disability Living Allowance (DLA) or Personal Independence Payment (PIP). Almost all of the remaining badges were issued to those registered blind (5.3%) and those on War Pensioner’s Mobility Supplement or Armed Forces and Reserved Forces Compensation scheme (0.5%).

Blue badges held as at 31 March 2023

Chart 10 shows that there were 2.57 million valid Blue Badges held as at 31 March 2023, an increase of 5.7% (138,000 badges) when compared with the previous year. Of the badges held, 3.3% of all badges (86,000) were held by people with non-visible disabilities. This was an increase from 2.6% (64,000) in the year ending 31 March 2022.

Chart 10: Blue Badges held: England, annually since March 1997 - DIS0101

Data from before 2020 are not comparable to data from 2020 onwards, due to a change in the data collection methodology. For more details on this and other changes to methodology since 2010, see the quality report. Caution should be taken when comparing the data over time.

As Chart 11 shows, on 31 March 2023 4.6% of the population in England held a valid Blue Badge, up from 4.3% the previous year.

Chart 11: Percentage of population that hold a Blue Badge: England, annually since March 1997 - DIS0102

Data from before 2020 are not comparable to data from 2020 onwards, due to a change in the data collection methodology. For more details on this and other changes to methodology since 2010, see the quality report. Caution should be taken when comparing the data over time.

As at 31 March 2023, 2.68 million people (4.7% of the population in England) were entitled to a Blue Badge without further assessment (previously known as automatically entitled). The number and proportion of people entitled to a Blue Badge without further assessment has been rising since 2015.

Out of the 2.68 million people who were eligible for a Blue Badge without further assessment, 38% held a Blue Badge. This shows a decreasing trend over recent years – the equivalent figure was 60% in 2015. Prior to 2015 this figure was relatively stable for several years.

The region with the most Blue Badge holders as a proportion of their population was the North East (5.4%). The region with the lowest proportion was London (3.1%), which also had the lowest regional proportion of retired people. Similarly, metropolitan areas such as Birmingham (3.8%) and Manchester (3.3%) also had comparatively low proportions of Blue Badge holders.

More detail on the number of Blue Badges held at regional and local authority level can be found in the associated tables.

Lost and stolen badges in the year ending 31 March 2023

In England, 6,300 badges in the year ending March 2023 were reported to be lost or stolen. Of these, 73% (4,600) were reported to be lost, and 27% (1,700) were stolen. The figures reflect cases that have been recorded in the database. It is possible that not all instances of loss or theft will be reported and recorded, and therefore will not be included in these figures.

Other useful information

Vehicles and cars

Mobility centres

The key figures for the year ending March 2023 were as follows:

• there were 13 mobility centres across England in March 2023, with 52 outreach centres

• 13,440 driving assessments were provided in the year ending March 2023. This was a small increase (2.4%) from the previous year

• 1,182 passenger assessments were provided in the year ending March 2023, a 20% increase from the previous year

• 851 wheelchair or scooter assessments were provided in the year ending March 2023, a 19% increase from the previous year

In all three cases, the number of assessments carried out was above the levels seen in the year ending March 2019 before the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

Vehicles in the disabled tax class

Disabled Tax Class

Drivers in receipt of certain disability related benefits can claim exemption from paying vehicle tax. This can either be because the vehicle is used by a disabled person, or the vehicle is used by an organisation providing transport for disabled people.

1.22 million vehicles were in the disabled tax class in the UK at the end of 2022, which represented 3% of all licensed vehicles. These figures were both similar to the previous 5 years since 2017, although since 2015 there has been a fall in the number of vehicles in this tax class, and a corresponding fall in the proportion of all licensed vehicles that these vehicles represent. These figures include people using mobility scooters.

Buses

DfT’s annual bus and concessionary travel statistics contain information on the accessibility of buses, prevalence of disability awareness training, and concessionary bus passes.

Taxis and Private Hire Vehicles (PHVs)

DfT’s annual taxi and PHV statistics contain information on the number of vehicles that are wheelchair accessible, disability awareness training requirements, and wheelchair policies.

Surface rail

The Office of Rail and Road (ORR) publishes a range of statistics, including on Disabled Persons Railcards and Passenger Assistance.

Data are published by the Department for Transport on accessible rail vehicles.

Transport Focus also published some findings on the experiences of disabled rail passengers in summer 2019.

Maritime

The Maritime and Coastguard Agency publishes findings on the experience of disabled passengers via its disabled passenger satisfaction survey. The latest survey was carried out in 2022.

Aviation

The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) publishes findings on the experiences of disabled passengers via its biannual UK Aviation Consumer Survey. The latest survey was carried out in 2022.

London

Transport for London (TfL) publishes information on step free access to TfL stations.

Contextual information - the disabled population

The Family Resources Survey (FRS)

The Family Resources Survey (FRS) is a continuous household survey which collects detailed information on income from all sources as well as detailed personal and household characteristics. The data is collected via an interview of a representative sample of private households in the United Kingdom. The FRS is considered to be one of the main data sources for information on disability prevalence.

As a result of the ongoing effects of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the year ending March 2022 survey was conducted largely via telephone rather than face to face, and achieved a smaller sample size of around 16,000 households rather than the usual 20,000 households. The FRS background and methodology note contains more information on the effect of the pandemic on the survey.

FRS estimates are Accredited Official Statistics.

The Family Resources Survey (FRS) disability definition

A person is considered to have a disability if they report a long-standing illness, disability or impairment which causes substantial difficulty with day-to-day activities. This is consistent with the core definition of disability under the Equality Act 2010. Some people classified as disabled and having rights under the Equality Act 2010 are not captured by this definition, such as people with a long-standing illness or disability which is not currently affecting their day-to-day activities.

People living in care homes and other such community living environments are not captured through the survey. Therefore the survey may underestimate disability prevalence and the prevalence of different impairments, particularly in the older age groups.

Family Resources Survey Findings

In the year ending March 2022, 24% (16.0 million) or around one in four people reported a disability. This was an increase of nearly 4 million people since the year ending March 2012, when 19% of people reported a disability.

Further information on the number of people reporting disabilities, including breakdowns by impairment type, gender, and by region of the UK, can be found in the Family Resources Survey publication, which is published by the Department for Work and Pensions.

About these statistics

Data sources

More information on the data sources used can be found in the Background Quality Report.

Uses and users of these statistics

Within the Department for Transport, these statistics are used to understand the impact of policy changes on the disabled population, for ministerial briefing, and to answer public enquiries. For example, the data within this publication is being used as part of a wider project to monitor and evaluate the Department’s Inclusive Transport Strategy, published in July 2018.

Accredited Official Statistics

This publication is a compendium of Accredited Official Statistics, Official Statistics, and statistics that fall outside the scope of Official Statistics. The type of statistics presented is detailed in Table 2 below.

Table 2: Categories of statistics presented in this publication

Name of category of statistics	Label	Description
National Travel Survey findings	Accredited Official Statistics	These official statistics were independently reviewed by the Office for Statistics Regulation in February 2022. They comply with the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics and should be labelled ‘accredited official statistics’.
National Highways and Transport Public Satisfaction Survey findings	Outside the Official Statistics process	The data used to produce these statistics are provided by an external body. They therefore fall outside the Official Statistics process.
Blue Badge statistics (national level)	Accredited Official Statistics	These official statistics were independently reviewed by the Office for Statistics Regulation in June 2012. They comply with the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics and should be labelled ‘accredited official statistics’.
Blue Badge statistics (regional and local authority level, lost and stolen badges)	Official Statistics	These statistics are official statistics. They comply with the standards of trustworthiness, quality, and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics.
Family Resource Survey findings	Accredited Official Statistics	These official statistics were independently reviewed by the Office for Statistics Regulation in November 2012. They comply with the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics and should be labelled ‘accredited official statistics’.

The Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR) assessed Transport Disability and Accessibility statistics against the Code of Practice for Statistics in 2022, and published its findings on the OSR website. The review identified several positive areas, and also made some helpful suggestions for further improvement.

The OSR also published a more wide ranging review of transport accessibility statistics across the UK in 2022. This resulted in a range of recommendations.

We are in the process of making improvements following the recommendations from these reviews:

• promoting the statistics more proactively to a range of interested users, and compiling a list of these. This will be done via existing organisations such as the Disabled Persons Transport Advisory Committee (DPTAC)
• working with the National Travel Survey (NTS) team in DfT to assess whether we can present information to users on uncertainty around survey estimates in future statistical releases
• working with the National Travel Survey team to assess future options to focus on specific groups of the population, such as young disabled adults. The proposed increase in the NTS sample size will mean more detailed analysis should be possible in some areas

Details of ministers and officials who receive pre-release access to these statistics up to 24 hours before release can be found in the pre-release access list.

Feedback

We welcome any feedback on these statistics, to ensure future releases best meet user needs. If you wish to provide feedback, please contact the disability statistics team.

Blue Badge Prosecutions Statistics

In the statistical release published in January 2023 we explained our decision to cease the collection and publication of statistics on blue badge prosecutions, and invited feedback on this decision from users. Since then, we have received expressions of disappointment from one local authority and one charity, who felt that the data played an important role in holding local authorities to account. A small number (fewer than 5) other organisations asked about the latest available data, but did not express a view on the decision to cease collecting it. We will continue to monitor any further feedback received.

Next release

The next disability and accessibility statistics release is due to be published in winter 2024 to 2025.

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Contact details

Transport: disability, accessibility and blue badge statistics

Email localtransport.statistics@dft.gov.uk

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