Blue Badge Scheme (Disabled person's parking badge)
The Blue Badge scheme is designed to help disabled people who have severe mobility problems lead independent lives by allowing them to park near to a venue and have easier access to the services they want to use.
Badge fee
If your application is successful, you will receive a letter detailing how to make the payment of £20 for your Blue Badge.
Your local authority will only issue successful applicants with a Blue Badge once payment of the required fee has been received.
Transport Scotland, an agency of the Scottish Government, state in their code of practice that it could take Local Authorities up to 28 working days to carry out the relevant validity checks and to process a blue badge application.
Please note: Beware of the Blue Badge (Disabled Parking) Application scam - Blue badge applicants should be on the lookout for online and telephone scams. Blue Badges are £20 in Scotland, It would appear that some websites are re-routing the application to the person's local authority so although you get a blue badge (if you qualified), it cost considerably more than it needed to with the people running the unauthorised website keeping the difference. To ensure that you are using the right website either apply online at https://www.gov.uk/apply-blue-badge or contact us directly.
You may qualify for a Blue Badge if you meet one of the following criteria:
Automatic criteria
You will automatically qualify for a Blue Badge if one of the following applies:
- you receive the Higher Rate of the Mobility Component of Disability Living Allowance
- you receive either the standard or enhanced rate Mobility Component of Personal Independence Payment (PIP) because you meet a 'Moving Around' descriptor that indicates that you either cannot stand, or can stand but walk no more than 50 metres (8 points or more)
- you receive the enhanced rate Mobility Component of Personal Independence Payment (PIP) because you meet the 'Planning and Following Journeys' descriptor that indicates that you can't follow the route of a familiar journey without another person, an assistance dog or an orientation aid (12 points)
- you are sight impaired or severely sight impaired and in receipt of a Certificate of Visual Impairment (CVI) form
- you receive a War Pensioners' Mobility Supplement
- you have received a lump sum benefit within tariffs 1 to 8 of the Armed Forces and Reserve Forces (Compensation) Scheme and have been certified as having a permanent and substantial difficulty which causes inability to walk or very considerable difficulty in walking
Apply for a Blue Badge under the automatic criteria
Alternatively, you can download and complete a 
Blue Badge (Without Further Assessment) [342Kb].
Discretionary criteria
You may also be eligible for a badge if you are more than two years old and meet one of the following criteria:
- you have a permanent and substantial disability which means you are unable to walk, or virtually unable to walk
- you are unable to walk, or virtually unable to walk because of a temporary but substantial disability which is likely to last for a period of at least 12 months but less than 3 years
If you are applying for a badge under the above criteria you will need to show that you are unable to walk or virtually unable to walk very far without experiencing excessive pain and breathlessness, or a deterioration of health brought on by the effort needed to walk.
How to apply for a Blue Badge under the discretionary criteria
Alternatively, you can download and complete a
Blue Badge (Subject to Further Assessment) [349Kb].
Severe upper limb disability
You may also be eligible if you drive a motor vehicle regularly, have a severe disability in both upper limbs, and are unable to operate, or have considerable difficulty in operating, all or some types of Ticket Issuing Machines (parking meters).
To qualify for a badge under this criterion you will need to show that you meet all of the following:
- that you drive a vehicle regularly;
- that you have a severe disability in both arms; and
- that you are unable to operate, or have considerable difficulty operating, all or some types of on-street parking meters.
Apply for a Blue Badge under the severe upper limb disability criteria
Alternatively, you can download and complete a
Blue Badge (Subject to Further Assessment) [349Kb].
Risk in traffic criteria
You may also be eligible for a badge if you are more than two years old and have a diagnosed mental disorder and lack awareness of danger from traffic and are likely to compromise your safety or the safety of others.
How to apply for a Blue Badge under the risk in traffic criteria
Alternatively, you can download and complete a
Blue Badge (Cognitive Impairment) [263Kb].
Special rules for children aged under 3
A parent of a child who is less than three years old may apply for a badge for their child if the child has a specific medical condition which means that they must always be accompanied by bulky medical equipment which cannot be carried around without great difficulty.
Bulky medical equipment includes any of the following:
- ventilators
- suction machines
- feed pumps;
- parenteral equipment
- syringe drivers
- oxygen administration equipment
- continuous oxygen saturation monitoring equipment
- casts and associated medical equipment for the correction of hip dysplasia
A child will be eligible to receive a badge if the equipment is always needed and cannot be carried around without great difficulty.
A parent of a child who is less than three years old may apply for a badge for their child if the child has a specific medical condition which means they need to be kept near a vehicle at all times, so that they can, if necessary, be treated in the vehicle or quickly driven to a place where they can be treated, such as a hospital.
Examples of highly unstable medical conditions that mean children who have them may need quick access to transport to hospital or home may include:
- tracheostomies
- severe epilepsy/fitting
- highly unstable diabetes
- terminal illnesses that prevent children from spending any more than brief moments outside and who need a quick route home
Apply for a Blue Badge for a child under 3
Alternatively, you can download and complete a
Blue Badge (Child Under the age of Three) [331Kb].
Badges for Organisations
Some organisations may be eligible for a Blue Badge if they both care for and transport disabled people who themselves meet the eligibility criteria for a badge described above. The local authority will also need to decide whether the organisation has a clear need for an organisational badge rather than using the individual badges of people it is transporting. An organisational badge must only be displayed when someone who would be eligible for a Blue Badge in their own right is being transported.
Common examples of organisations that may be eligible include residential care homes, hospices or local authority social services departments. It is unlikely that taxi or private hire operators and community transport operators would be eligible for an organisational Blue Badge as they are not usually concerned with the care of disabled people.
When making an application for an organisational Blue Badge, you may be asked for evidence that the vehicles on which the badge will be displayed are licensed under the Disabled Passenger Vehicle taxation class. This will usually be a photocopy of the vehicle's tax disc. You will be asked for information such as the number of qualifying disabled people being cared for, the type of vehicle being used to carry passengers and whether the vehicle is adapted.
Apply for an organisational Blue Badge:
Alternatively, you can download and complete a
Blue Badge (Organisation) [318Kb].
Review of unsuccessful applications for Blue Badge
Where an application for a blue badge is unsuccessful, the Council will notify the applicant or the applicant's representative in writing giving the reason for refusal of a blue badge and provide information on the review process including grounds for review and timescales to be followed.
The request for a review must be made in writing within 28 days of the date of the local authority's letter refusing a badge, must include the grounds for the review request, and may include further supporting evidence which was not included with the initial application.
When a request for a review is received we will ensure that the review is carried out by someone who was not involved in the original decision, provide notification of the review decision in writing to the applicant within 28 days of the date of the request for review and notify the applicant or the applicant's representative in writing the reason for any delay in the review of the case beyond the 28 days.
Further information
You can get further information about applying for a Blue Badge on the mygov.scot website.
The Blue Badge scheme is for drivers or passengers with severe mobility problems.
The scheme provides a range of dedicated bays for Blue Badge holders in many locations both on-street and in Council operated car parks without limit of time and free of charge.