Freedom of information response

Does the council rely on externally commissioned services or employ in-house assessors for blue badge Independent Mobility Assessments?  It’s externally commissioned to Inclusion Me

If you use an externally commissioned service, could you provide the name of this service provider? Inclusion Me

If the council internally employs in-house assessors, please specify the number of clinically trained assessors and administrative staff who work on blue badge applications. No clinically trained staff work in the team, administrative staff is 2.96 FTE

Do you collaborate with local GP services or NHS trusts to conduct blue badge assessments? No, due to GDPR we cannot request supporting information, individuals need to submit these documents with their applications

How many of your applications are received through the .gov blue badge digital portal? 2566

How many applications are received direct to the council outside of the .gov blue badge digital portal process? 1300

Do members of the blue badge administration team fill out an application on either the .gov blue badge digital portal, or an internal form on behalf of an applicant that feels they are unable to do it themselves? Yes if the applicant has no one to do this on their behalf

Do you use an internal digital case management system for blue badge applications? If so, what is the name of this system. No just the CMS that all LA’s use

What is your current cost per assessment? (i.e. triage, telephone assessment & Independent Mobility Assessment) we do not have this broken down for different kinds of assessments