Guidance

Blue Badge scheme statistics: quality report

Updated 19 March 2026

Applies to England

About this release

This document supports the latest annual Blue Badge scheme statistics. Detailed Blue Badge data tables are available.

For detailed commentary please see the annual statistical release. This publication covers England only.

About the Blue Badge scheme statistics

This statistical release presents information on parking badges for disabled people (‘Blue Badges’) in England. Official statistics are produced to the high professional standards set by the Code of Practice for Statistics. Those that have been assessed by the Office for Statistics Regulation as fully compliant with the Code of Practice for Statistics are designated as Accredited Official Statistics.

Statistics that are not produced by an organisation listed in Section 6 (1) (a) of the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007, or in the Official Statistics Order 2023, fall outside of 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.

Blue Badge Scheme Eligibility

There are two main categories for eligibility for a Blue Badge, those that are “eligible without further assessment” (previously known as the automatic criteria) and those that are “eligible subject to further assessment” (previously known as the discretionary criteria).

Organisations that transport disabled people are also able to apply for a Blue Badge and are subject to their own criteria.

‘Eligible without further assessment’

People who may be issued a badge without further assessment are those who are more than 2 years old and:

• receive the Higher Rate Mobility Component of the Disability Living Allowance (DLA)

• score 8 points or more in the ‘Moving Around’ activity of the Mobility Component of the Personal Independence Payment (PIP)

• receive a War Pensioner’s Mobility Supplement

• are registered blind

• have been awarded a lump sum benefit at tariff levels 1 to 8 of the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme and certified as having a permanent and substantial disability which causes inability to walk or very considerable difficulty in walking

• receive the mobility component of PIP and score 10 points specifically for descriptor E of the ‘planning and following journeys’ activity, on the grounds they are unable to undertake any journey because it would cause overwhelming psychological distress

Applicants are required to provide proof that they satisfy one or more of the above criteria and must agree to identity and residency checks before their local authority can issue a badge.

‘Eligible subject to further assessment’

People who may be issued a badge subject to further assessment by the local authority are those who are more than two years old and:

• drive a vehicle regularly, have severe disability in both arms and are unable to operate or has considerable difficulty in operating all or some types of parking meter

• have been certified by an expert assessor as having an enduring and substantial disability which causes them, during the course of a journey, to be unable to walk or to experience very considerable difficulty whilst walking, which may include very considerable psychological distress

• may be at risk of serious harm when walking or pose, when walking, a risk of serious harm to any other person

In addition, children under the age of 3 may be eligible for a badge if they, on account of a condition:

• must always be accompanied by bulky medical equipment which cannot be carried around with the child without great difficulty

• must always be kept near a motor vehicle so that, if necessary, treatment for a condition can be given in the vehicle or the child can be taken quickly in the vehicle to a place where such treatment can be given

In these cases, applicants are required to undergo mobility assessments in order to determine their eligibility, unless it is self-evident that the applicant meets the eligibility criteria.

Reforms under the Disabled Persons (Badges for Motor Vehicles) (England) (Amendment) (No.2) Regulations 2011, which came into force in 2011, require that the decision to issue a badge to an individual applying because of a ‘permanent and substantial disability that causes inability to walk or considerable difficulty in walking’ must be confirmed by an independent medical assessor.

Organisations

Badges are issued to organisations for use in a motor vehicle or vehicles when they are being used to carry disabled people who would themselves be eligible for a badge.

An ‘organisation’ is defined as an organisation concerned with the care of disabled persons, to which a disabled person’s badge may be issued in accordance with section 21(4) of the Chronically Sick and Disabled Persons Act 1970.

For more information please see Chapter 5 of the Blue Badge Scheme Local Authority Guidance (England).

Blue Badge Digital Service Database

The Blue Badge Digital Service (BBDS) or its predecessor the Blue Badge Improvement Service (BBIS) has been available to all local authorities in England since 1 January 2012. It provides a number of core services, including a central database of all Blue Badges on issue, key information on badge holders and its implications on statistics.

The data downloaded from the BBDS for DfT includes figures for:

• number of badges held at the end of the given period by eligibility criteria
• number of badges issued in the given period by eligibility criteria
• number of badges cancelled by reason (for example, lost or stolen)

Coverage

The BBDS covers all local authorities in England, as well as those in other parts of the UK. Figures for Wales and Scotland are published by the respective devolved administrations.

Strengths of the data

Response

Data on the numbers of badges held and issued was available for all local authorities in England in the year ending March 2025.

Between 2008 and 2013, where data quality was poor, some data was imputed to produce aggregate totals at the England or regional level. This involved estimation using figures that had been supplied in previous years, or responses to other questions in the survey where a partial response had been provided by the authority. Table 1 provides further details.

Table 1: The proportion of the annual estimate accounted for by imputation

Year	Held (% imputed)	Issued (% imputed)
year ending March 2009	39%	42%
year ending March 2010	41%	38%
year ending March 2011	37%	28%
year ending March 2012	36%	29%
year ending March 2013	28%	0%

There were some transitional issues in the financial years ending 2014 and 2015 when moving from the survey-based method to using BBIS.

Consistency in reporting

Since the financial year ending 2016, when the BBIS and its successor BBDS data was exclusively used for the numbers of badges held, issued and cancelled, quality issues owing to differences in management information systems have been resolved.

Limitations

Time series

The numbers of Blue Badges held, issued or cancelled will be impacted by changes to BBDS (and its predecessor BBIS), and comparisons to estimates prior to the introduction of or changes to BBDS (and its predecessor BBIS) should be treated with caution, particularly at regional and local authority level.

From 2019, data about Blue Badges held were collected directly from the Blue Badge Digital Service (BBDS) rather than the previous Blue Badge Improvement Service (BBIS) which was in place from 2012 to 2019.

This change meant we were not able to collect consistent data on the number of badges issued. As a result, it is not possible to compare the number of Blue Badges held and issued from the year ending March 2019 onwards with figures for earlier years.

In addition, the change in the Blue Badge Digital Service caused data on cancelled badges to be unavailable for the financial year ending 2019 and the financial year ending 2020.

BBDS mechanisms

Data on badges issued is based on when a badge’s ‘status’ is updated to ‘issued’. It is the responsibility of each individual local authority to update the status of each issued badge.

Failure to do so may result in under-reporting on how many badges have been issued, which could have an impact when comparing Blue Badge figures across years.

From 2019 local authorities are also able to indicate as part of the online application process that an applicant is ‘not for reassessment’ where that applicant has already been assessed in previous years and where that applicant’s disability is unlikely to improve or likely to get worse.

Where badges are used

Data is based on the local authority the applicant resides in, which may not be the area in which the badge is issued.

Badges held by underlying health condition

The data indicates under which eligibility criteria Blue Badges were issued, but it is not possible to distinguish the specific underlying health conditions for which badges are issued or held in any greater detail.

Data quality

Data is provided on request to DfT in the form of an Excel spreadsheet.

The data is then compared to previous years and explanations are sought from the BBDS administrators where the changes are large or unexpected.

Other dimensions of quality

Response rate

Data has been available from all local authorities in England since the move to BBIS.

Respondent burden

BBDS is an administrative system and as such, respondent burden is minimal.

Accuracy

Using the same information management system for the processing of Blue Badge applications ensures good consistency of estimates between local authorities. However, changes to BBDS will impact changes over time.

Other data sources

Further information on the quality and methodology of the other data sources found in this report can be found by visiting the links in the statistical release relating to those data sources.

Population

For the year ending March 2025, population data is taken from the Office for National Statistics mid-year population estimates. The mid-year estimate is used most years however, for 2022, data is taken from the 2021 Census first results.

Disabled population

Figures for the disabled population entitled to a Blue Badge without further assessment are calculated on the basis of several sources:

• the population receiving the higher level of the Disability Living Allowance is taken from the Department for Work and Pensions cases in payment caseload. For the year ending March 2025, these figures are taken in February 2025

• the population receiving the standard or enhanced mobility award for Person Independence Payments is taken from the Department for Work and Pensions cases in payment caseload. For the year ending March 2025, these figures are taken in March 2025

• the population receiving War Pensioners Mobility Supplement is supplied by the Defence Statistics team in the Ministry of Defence. For 2025, these figures are as at 31 March 2025

• the registered blind population is taken from the National Health Service Registered Blind and Partially Sighted People, England statistical publication. These figures are updated roughly every three years. The latest update was published in February 2024

Disability benefits

There are 3 main types of benefits you might be able to receive if you have a disability and live in England:

• Disability Living Allowance (DLA)
• Personal Independence Payment (PIP)
• Attendance Allowance

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Contact details

Transport: disability, accessibility and blue badge statistics

Email localtransport.statistics@dft.gov.uk

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