Blue Badges and parking for disabled people in England

The Blue Badge scheme provides a national arrangement of parking concessions for disabled people. A separate scheme operates in London. There are reciprocal arrangements for disabled drivers allowing them to park across the EU. The Blue Badge scheme does not apply to off-street car parks, whether local authority- or privately-owned.

The Labour Government introduced minor changes to the scheme, particularly with regard to eligibility. The Coalition Government introduced further changes to improve enforcement in the Disabled Persons’ Parking Badges Act 2013 and, separately, to scheme eligibility. Individuals have also been affected by the move from Disability Living Allowance to the Personal Independence Payment.

In January 2018 the Government issued a consultation on extending eligibility for the Blue Badge to those suffering from a mental, cognitive or intellectual disability and to those people who receive 12 points for the ‘Planning and Following Journeys’ activity of the mobility component of Personal Independence Payment (PIP), for non-physical mobility issues. On 29 July the Government announced its intention to proceed with these changes.

In addition to Blue Badges, one of the challenges faced by disabled people who use private vehicles is being able to park both outside their home and near shops and other facilities. Local authorities have powers to install disabled parking bays and spaces both on and off road – these can be statutory or discretionary. Discretionary spaces are cheaper to install but they rely on other motorists not to park in them and are not legally enforceable. In privately owned car parks (e.g. attached to supermarkets), it is up for the landowner to install spaces for disabled people and to enforce them.

For information on Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, see:

• Wales – Section 21 of the Chronically Sick and Disabled Persons Act 1970 & the Disabled Persons (Badges for Motor Vehicles) (Wales) Regulations 2000 (SI 2000/1786), both as amended; Eligibility Guidance, January 2015; & Eligibility Criteria, January 2015
• Scotland – Section 21 of the Chronically Sick and Disabled Persons Act 1970; the Disabled Persons (Badges for Motor Vehicles) (Scotland) Regulations 2000 (SSI 2000/59); the Disabled Persons (Badges for Motor Vehicles) (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2014 (SSI 2014/145); and Transport Scotland, Blue Badge scheme [accessed 7 March 2018]
• Northern Ireland – Section 14 of the Chronically Sick and Disabled Persons (Northern Ireland) Act 1978 & the Disabled Persons (Badges for Motor Vehicles) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1993 (NISI 1993/202), both as amended; and NI Direct, The Blue Badge scheme [accessed 7 March 2018]

Information on other parking matters can be found on the Roads Briefings Page of the Parliament website.