Department for Work and Pension

Disabled Parking Blue Badge Scheme

Briefly describe the initiative/ project/service; please include your aims and objectives

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) introduced a Disabled Parking (Blue Badge) Scheme information service in October 2020. By February 2021, 155 of the 206 (76%) local authorities (LAs) who provide Blue Badges to their residents were using the service. When applicants apply for a Blue Badge, there are two application routes available – Automatic Qualification (Without Further Assessment) and Subject to Further Assessment. Over 40% of Blue Badge applicants (approx.million per annum) have an Automatic Qualification and this percentage is rising each year. In order for an applicant to qualify for a badge, they must prove they meet one of the automatically qualifying criteria, such as being in receipt of Personal Independence Payment (PIP) under certain mobility or journey planning criteria, or Disability Living Allowance (DLA) mobility component. The DWP Searchlight “Blue Badge” Project was set up to improve this service and provide information in real time to streamline the application process.

The Blue Badge project was deemed a high priority due to huge potential savings and anticipated service improvements it would deliver. Commencing during the pandemic, required close collaboration with LAs to carry out user research, capture user needs and agree requirements. Doing this remotely we maximised the use of technology to share, collaborate and test the new features. Two months after a period of designing and prototyping ways to securely share benefit data with LAs, the new Mobility Service was launched on DWP’s “Searchlight” application which already provides personal details/benefit information to all LAs. Agreed datasets held by other DWP benefit systems were retrieved using newly developed APIs to provide real time data to LAs. The challenge was to provide the data in a new view on Searchlight, so both existing and new users would have the information they needed at their fingertips. Data was transformed to provide an easily read and understood set of information to enable users to make decisions about Blue Badge eligibility accurately and quickly.

What are the key achievements?

With the introduction of the Blue Badge Searchlight Mobility tab, local authorities are able to access information at the click of a button, without the need for any citizen input or contact. This has reduced administration time significantly for these applications, without the need to contact the DWP by either the LA or the citizen. Information is in real time, with award information available to be able to determine if they meet these automatic criteria, as well as the length of the award. This helps processing times but also helps to eliminate any fraudulent documents that citizens may provide. It allows us to check at the point of application, and throughout the life of the badge should any questions be raised around benefit receipt, as well as verifying information provided by the citizen. Citizens are seeing significant benefits because of faster processing times assisting people who are most vulnerable to help maintain their independence. Instead of spending five minutes contacting a customer or the DWP helpline, officers can check within 30 seconds whether an applicant receives the appropriate benefit, and progress applications accordingly. This has significant cost reduction implications, particularly for LAs who process thousands of applications a year. For some LAs, Automatically Qualifying applicants account for over 45% of their total applications, so the positive impact of a digital change like this should not be underestimated.”

How Innovative is your initiative?

The key innovation here was to display data to our Local Authority users that would allow Blue Badge applications to be quickly assessed. This involved identifying the data required and where it could be securely sourced from. Key data was available from other DWP legacy systems. To surface this data API technologies were utilised to retrieve and display the information, with internal micro-services developed to establish interfaces. Specific user roles were also developed that would ensure Local Authority users who only process new applications can view ‘just enough information’ via Searchlight to assess an application. The project was a great collaboration between DWP and LA colleagues, throughout delivery and implementation. Much energy and enthusiasm across all parties was evident as the message was very clear about how much this would help colleagues and citizens. Collaborative working included the Department for Transport (DfT), who helped DWP make contact with individual local authority Blue Badge service leaders across the UK. The DfT (who are responsible for Disabled Parking legislation and policy) have been extremely supportive, demonstrating cross-government collaboration at its best.

The team worked closely with a number of LAs, who were all incredibly responsive, despite additional pressures brought about by the pandemic. Before, during and after the introduction of the new service, LAs were asked to estimate and quantify the time savings in administration. This quantification suggests savings of £200,000 per year for a medium sized authority and around £46m per year nationally. The total cost for delivering of the new service was a fraction of estimated annual savings. Feedback from LA colleagues on the project team’s communication approach included: “Communication has been great, and the DWP team have kept us up-to-date throughout the process, through email, a shared online workspace, and calls when needed. It’s been a real pleasure being a part of a project that has made such a difference to how all LAs work.”

What are the key learning points?

The project was a great collaboration between DWP and LA colleagues, throughout delivery and implementation. Much energy and enthusiasm across all parties was evident as the message was very clear about how much this would help colleagues and citizens. Collaborative working included the Department for Transport (DfT), who helped DWP make contact with individual local authority Blue Badge service leaders across the UK. The DfT (who are responsible for Disabled Parking legislation and policy) have been extremely supportive, demonstrating cross-government collaboration at its best. The team worked closely with a number of LAs, who were all incredibly responsive, despite additional pressures brought about by the pandemic. Before, during and after the introduction of the new service, LAs were asked to estimate and quantify the time savings in administration. This quantification suggests savings of £200,000 per year for a medium sized authority and around £46m per year nationally.

The total cost for delivering of the new service was a fraction of estimated annual savings. Feedback from LA colleagues on the project team’s communication approach included: “Communication has been great, and the DWP team have kept us up-to-date throughout the process, through email, a shared online workspace, and calls when needed. It’s been a real pleasure being a part of a project that has made such a difference to how all LAs work.”

The initiative has acted as a trailblazer within DWP and external bodies in harnessing government data that is securely available and utilising API technology to transform services at pace and scale to deliver value for customers and realises savings. These processes and patterns are already being used as part of DWP’s transformation programme to provide better connected services for those with complex and multiple needs