Blue Badges

  1. Overview
  2. Eligibility for a Blue Badge
  3. Payment for a Blue Badge
  4. Apply for a Blue Badge
  5. If your application is refused
  1. Lost or stolen Blue Badges
  2. Misuse of a Blue Badge
  3. Organisational badges
  4. Enquiries about Blue Badges

2. Eligibility for a Blue Badge

We treat all applications as new, even if you have held a Blue Badge before.

Automatic eligibility

You will qualify for a Blue Badge without further assessment if you:

  • receive a Personal Independence Payment (PIP)* with the following: 
    • 8 points or more for the 'Moving Around' part of the mobility section 
    • 10 points in the 'Planning and Following a Journey' part of the mobility section. The description must be: unable to undertake a journey due to considerable psychological distress.
  • receive the higher rate of the mobility component of the Disability Living Allowance.
  • receive a war pensioner's mobility supplement.
  • are registered blind (partially sighted is not an automatic qualification).

Please check your benefit to ensure you qualify before starting the application. 

*You must provide a full copy of your PIP document including points breakdown. The front page letter is not enough.

Further assessment

If you are not automatically eligible for a Blue Badge, you will need to give detailed information in the application to prove you qualify. Please see the Department for Transport guidance (external link) for further information.

Physical disabilities

You may qualify for a badge if you are over two years old and:

  • have an enduring and substantial disability, which means you are unable to walk or have considerable difficulty whilst walking.
  • drive a motor vehicle regularly, have a severe disability in both arms and are unable to operate, or have considerable difficulty in operating, all or some types of parking meters.

Non-physical disabilities

You may qualify for a badge if you are more than two years old and:

  • are unable to walk.
  • experience very considerable difficulty whilst walking during the course of a journey, including considerable psychological distress.
  • could be at risk of serious harm, or pose a risk of serious harm to another person.

Children under the age of 2 years

A parent of a child who is under two years old may apply for a badge for their child, if the child has a medical condition which means they:

  • have bulky medical equipment which must always accompany the child.
  • must be near a vehicle at all times to receive treatment, either in the vehicle, or driven to a place where the child will receive treatment.

You may need to provide medical evidence of your child's condition.

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