Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council’s decision to refuse to renew his Blue Badge. The Council has invited him to re-apply for a Blue Badge. An investigation by us would not achieve anything more or lead to a different outcome.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains about the Council’s decision to refuse to renew his Blue Badge. He says the decision is reducing his quality of life and affecting his independence. He wants the Council to issue him with a Blue Badge and improve its assessment process.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint, which we call ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We do not start or continue an investigation if we decide further investigation would not lead to a different outcome. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered information provided by the complainant.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. In its complaint responses, the Council acknowledged that since its decision to refuse him a Blue Badge, Mr X had received an additional medical diagnosis and reported a significant deterioration in his mobility. It invited him to reapply for a Blue Badge. It said it could arrange a longer appointment time if required, to ensure his assessment information was accurately recorded and to allow Mr X to discuss his difficulties with the assessor in detail.
6. We will not investigate this complaint. We do not act as an appeal body and could not require the Council to issue Mr X a Blue Badge. The most we could achieve through an investigation would be to ask the Council to complete a reassessment.
7. In this case, the Council has offered Mr X a reassessment and it is open to him to re-apply. An investigation by us would not achieve more than this or lead to a different outcome.

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Final decision

8. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because an investigation would not achieve anything more or lead to a different outcome.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman