My Mum, who will be 86 in June, has had her application for renewal of her Blue Badge turned down. She has had it for more than 10 years, after her hip replacement which made it difficult for her to walk . Since then she has had two knee replacements, and now suffers breathing problems due to problems with vertebrae in her back. Patently her ability to walk has not "improved" in the last ten years, and anyway there is no question of her driving herself. It seems that Councils have been encouraged by the DfT to use outsourced "Mobility Assessors" to assess people's ability to walk, rather than rely on GPs. The DfT is very pleased because the number of successful applications has dropped since they were introduced. What a great "result". Greenwich Council didn't provide any kind of detailed explanation as to how my Mum failed (which the DfT says they should do). I've challenged them on that and they immediately replied that we have the right to get the MA's report - however we have to pay a tenner, and wait up to 40 days (whereas the appeal is supposed to be lodged within 28 days). I have asked for an extension of the appeal, so we can ask for her GP to address the basis on which the Mobility Assessor turned her down.
But you know, WTF??? I understand that there is misuse of these things, but taking one away from a 85 year old who has had one for ten years??
Any advice, especially from those with specialist knowledge of the Council in this area, would be much appreciated.
How do these ba%^$*ds sleep at night.
I wish you all the luck Prague - take them all the way if you have to. Your mum is lucky that she has got to stroppy buggers for sons!
I sent you a mail directly to your email address but it bounced. Now I have sent it through the CL message system. But maybe your mailbox is full. If you see and can reply to this, but didnt get my mail, I will call you.
Well, looks like finally we won! Got a letter from some director at GC, mailed by another director. They have a lot of directors! When I get back from hols I will post it, but the good thing is that belatedly these directors have realised that their process is seriously flawed, so hopefully a lot of other people can benefit from our scrap. The letter was in fact sent to Clive Efford, so hats off to him for taking up our case. By now I think Colin Fjnch would have added his weight too and they finally realised they have a systemic problem.
So if anyone else has a similar problem and wants to use our case as a precedent, just let me know. Or if you live in Greenwich, contact Colin. This is part of his job, and I greatly admire him for such work
Well done Prague, and that was a very generous offer by Colin, well done and thank god for people like you. Good to see the local MP acting as well. I appreciate that you cannot hand out blue badges without some form of criteria, but sometimes the people administering the system do seem to take a delight in being awkward, and put off people who are entitled to this benefit, by the process itself?
Having read all of this, I was dreading my old Mum's renewal, in Lewisham, as the circumstnces are very similar. However, I am relieved to say that her's went through with no problem
Prague, it's probably a good idea to black out your Mum's full name and address and maybe Clive Efford's too, before posting the letter up. It sounds very much like the Blue Badge assessment system is similar to the one they're using for the replacement for DLA, narrow tickbox definitions rather than a detailed understanding of the person's needs.
Well done in getting things sorted out for your Mum, and it'll be interesting to see if things have improved next time she needs to renew
While we were appealing the badge, in the background I was asking FOI requests, to try to understand their system better. Although they assured me that there are no targets assigned to fail a certain number, I remained doubtful, so I asked for the following:
1. A copy of the contract between Greenwich Council and Access Independent
2. Any related documents which set out the terms, conditions and particularly performance targets which define how Access Independent will perform its duties on behalf of the Council
And it took them ages to answer. Finally last week I got the answer:
We do not currently hold a contract with Access Independent but will be developing one in the coming months.
And that was all. I was gobsmacked. Think about it. This private company can charge pretty much what it likes, because there is no contract to regulate overtime or whatever, it can perform as it likes; and the money coming out of the Councils budget cannot be overseen or really accounted for.
Well, I looked up the company and the website presents a small but professional looking company. So I think this is simply a case of incompetence. But if this was discovered in a Czech town hall, everyone would be screaming "corruption".
And if this is how they conduct their dealings with this company, what are they doing with others???
Anyway I fired back at them that they could still answer the second part of my question, because there must be SOMETHING that controls how this company are paid.
But I ought to alert somebody. But whom? Council leader? Clive Efford again? Media?
Really, I never knew things could work this way in modern local councils.
Prague, it's probably a good idea to black out your Mum's full name and address and maybe Clive Efford's too, before posting the letter up. It sounds very much like the Blue Badge assessment system is similar to the one they're using for the replacement for DLA, narrow tickbox definitions rather than a detailed understanding of the person's needs.
Well done in getting things sorted out for your Mum, and it'll be interesting to see if things have improved next time she needs to renew
Ah good point Ali, thanks for the heads up, I'll have to take it down for now.
While we were appealing the badge, in the background I was asking FOI requests, to try to understand their system better. Although they assured me that there are no targets assigned to fail a certain number, I remained doubtful, so I asked for the following:
1. A copy of the contract between Greenwich Council and Access Independent
2. Any related documents which set out the terms, conditions and particularly performance targets which define how Access Independent will perform its duties on behalf of the Council
And it took them ages to answer. Finally last week I got the answer:
We do not currently hold a contract with Access Independent but will be developing one in the coming months.
And that was all. I was gobsmacked. Think about it. This private company can charge pretty much what it likes, because there is no contract to regulate overtime or whatever, it can perform as it likes; and the money coming out of the Councils budget cannot be overseen or really accounted for.
Well, I looked up the company and the website presents a small but professional looking company. So I think this is simply a case of incompetence. But if this was discovered in a Czech town hall, everyone would be screaming "corruption".
And if this is how they conduct their dealings with this company, what are they doing with others???
Anyway I fired back at them that they could still answer the second part of my question, because there must be SOMETHING that controls how this company are paid.
But I ought to alert somebody. But whom? Council leader? Clive Efford again? Media?
Really, I never knew things could work this way in modern local councils.
Prague How about the Local Govt. Ombudsman? I haven't looked in detail at their remit but it seems to me that (a) you have had an issue with the service provided by Greenwich and (b) the way the service has been set up means that Greenwich has no control over the associated costs. Obviously the poor performance by the council has cost you and your Mum, time and money not to mention the inconvenience - might be worth a shot? These people need to know that they owe a duty of care to their stakeholders and they can't just ride roughshod over them without consequences. Apart from anything else, it's a free service.
Comments
I wish you all the luck Prague - take them all the way if you have to. Your mum is lucky that she has got to stroppy buggers for sons!
CL is a great place.
I sent you a mail directly to your email address but it bounced. Now I have sent it through the CL message system. But maybe your mailbox is full. If you see and can reply to this, but didnt get my mail, I will call you.
Cheers
Richard
So if anyone else has a similar problem and wants to use our case as a precedent, just let me know. Or if you live in Greenwich, contact Colin. This is part of his job, and I greatly admire him for such work
Great result and good to see those unaccountable clipboard fascists get a kick up the arse.
Nice work Prague.
Would still make a great local TV news story.
Good to see the local MP acting as well.
I appreciate that you cannot hand out blue badges without some form of criteria, but sometimes the people administering the system do seem to take a delight in being awkward, and put off people who are entitled to this benefit, by the process itself?
Well done in getting things sorted out for your Mum, and it'll be interesting to see if things have improved next time she needs to renew
1. A copy of the contract between Greenwich Council and Access Independent
2. Any related documents which set out the terms, conditions and
particularly performance targets which define how Access Independent will
perform its duties on behalf of the Council
And it took them ages to answer. Finally last week I got the answer:
We do not currently hold a contract with Access Independent but will be
developing one in the coming months.
And that was all. I was gobsmacked. Think about it. This private company can charge pretty much what it likes, because there is no contract to regulate overtime or whatever, it can perform as it likes; and the money coming out of the Councils budget cannot be overseen or really accounted for.
Well, I looked up the company and the website presents a small but professional looking company. So I think this is simply a case of incompetence. But if this was discovered in a Czech town hall, everyone would be screaming "corruption".
And if this is how they conduct their dealings with this company, what are they doing with others???
Anyway I fired back at them that they could still answer the second part of my question, because there must be SOMETHING that controls how this company are paid.
But I ought to alert somebody. But whom? Council leader? Clive Efford again? Media?
Really, I never knew things could work this way in modern local councils.
How about the Local Govt. Ombudsman?
I haven't looked in detail at their remit but it seems to me that (a) you have had an issue with the service provided by Greenwich and (b) the way the service has been set up means that Greenwich has no control over the associated costs. Obviously the poor performance by the council has cost you and your Mum, time and money not to mention the inconvenience - might be worth a shot? These people need to know that they owe a duty of care to their stakeholders and they can't just ride roughshod over them without consequences.
Apart from anything else, it's a free service.
Cheers!