Successfully navigating the challenges of on-line systems
A client with several physical health disabilities impacting his mobility needed to apply for a Westminster Council blue and white badge permit. This permit would greatly increase the quality of his life and help him gain more independence. The only way to apply for the badge is via an online form.
The client, a man in his fifties, has good conversational English skills, but written English presents more of a challenge to him. Because of this, he completed his parking badge application incorrectly, and so the application was not approved, which understandably caused stress and frustration.
The client’s CAW advisor helped him to complete a paper application for an Occupational Therapist assessment by Westminster Council to see if he qualified for a parking permit. In this process, the advisor was able to identify that the client would automatically qualify for a permit as he was already in receipt of the required qualifying description of his disabilities under the Personal Independent Payment (PIP) rules. However, there was yet another level of challenge in that our client did not have the IT skills required to upload his most recent PIP decision to prove his qualifying status. Again, the CAW advisor was able to help, working through the steps necessary to provide the proof that was needed to obtain the permit.
Once this process was complete, however, our client was delighted to receive his blue and white parking badge, which is valid for three years. Better yet, having discovered that his PIP status automatically qualifies him for the permit, he was able to avoid a stressful occupational therapy assessment, and he knows he will be able to renew the badge with more ease in the future.