Provision of Independent Mobility Assessor Services 2021

Description

The blue badge scheme in Scotland (“the scheme”) gives a concession to severely disabled people to park where particular restrictions may otherwise apply. The scheme plays an important role in helping severely disabled people access jobs, shops and other services. There are currently over 270,000 Blue Badge holders in Scotland, many of whom say that they would be unable to travel without certainty that they will be able to park close to where they need to be. The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that this vital scheme continues to provide accessible parking for those in most need. Since 1 January 2012, the Government has made a number of improvements to the scheme. One of these improvements was the introduction of the use of mandatory independent mobility assessments to assess eligibility for those “unable to walk” or “virtually unable to walk” on 1 September 2012. In line with this change the Scottish Government has provided funding, through the annual settlement to local authorities from 1 April 2012, to allow local authorities to undertake assessments in stage 2 and 3 of the Blue Badge assessment process model. As from 1 September 2012 the final stage of the Blue Badge assessment can only be undertaken by an Independent Mobility Assessor and it is the element of the assessment which Orkney Islands Council (the “Council”) is commissioning. The assessment will build on Council Occupational Therapy (OT) staff. Where OT staff feel that they cannot make a decision on the eligibility of the applicant applying under the “unable to walk” or “virtually unable to walk” permanent and temporary criteria, they will pass the application form to an Independent Mobility Assessor to assess the applicant. An Independent Mobility Assessor is defined in legislation as a person recognised by the local authority as holding a professional qualification, the obtaining of which involved the assessor being trained in the assessment of a person’s ability to walk; and having the expertise necessary to assess on behalf of the local authority, the ability of the applicant to walk. The assessor should never have been employed or engaged as a provider of medical services to the applicant where “medical services” includes all forms of medical treatment and investigations to establish whether the treatment is needed but does not include an assessment conducted to establish whether the applicant is eligible for services provided by a local authority (including the provision of a disabled persons badge); and is not, in the opinion of the local authority, precluded by any reason of personal or commercial relationship with the applicant from providing an independent assessment of the applicants ability to walk.