The Blue Badge Digital Service has scooped up a DigiLeaders 100 award!

Digital Leaders is an initiative that has created a shared professional space for senior leadership from different sectors promoting effective, long-term digital transformation. The DL100 list is created by public vote and celebrates the teams and individuals who are working to secure the UK’s Digital Transformation.

The 'Cross-Sector Digital Collaboration of The Year' award is for a cross-sector digital product or service that in the last year has had a measurable impact and delivered real outcomes – an amazing accolade for the Blue Badge Digital Service.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who voted for us in the public vote!

The awards ceremony at the Congress Centre in Fitzrovia proved to be a night to remember with over 300 Digital Leaders, influencers and innovators from across the UK gathered for an evening of celebration, networking and entertainment.

The winning service

The Blue Badge Scheme provides 3 million severely disabled people across the UK with a parking permit which allows them to park closer to their destination, usually for free and without a time limit. The DfT is responsible for the central policy and legislation governing the scheme with the devolved administrations responsible for their own guidance. The legal obligation to issue badges to eligible disabled people sits with Local Authorities.

In partnership with Valtech, DfT have replaced the existing service with one built on GOV.UK with one clear goal – to better meet the needs of users who are severely disabled people or organisations who care for disabled people. With 207 Blue Badge issuing councils spread across the UK, this presented a huge design and engagement challenge for the delivery team.

The new service needed to be as simple as possible to use, both for those applying for a Blue Badge and for local authorities with thousands of applications to manage. People expect digital services to be quick and easy, so the primary goal was to make the new Blue Badge service just that whilst establishing a collaborative working community between the Local Authorities.

Hear from Daniel Fyfield, Blue Badge Digital Service Owner, Department for Transport talk about the partnership with Valtech:

Valtech and the public sector

Valtech have been operating at the heart of the UK public sector since 1999, delivering services we rely on as citizens. We create seamless user experiences that save millions of pounds on unnecessary legacy services. We're proud of contributing to the improvement of public services through digital transformation.

We help to shape the way things are done in the UK Public Sector. An early advocate of agile methods, we pioneer new and efficient methods. Having worked with Government Digital Service (GDS) since 2013, we help Government departments meet the Digital Service Standard, and are actively involved in its iterative improvement.

We are particularly proud of our projects that help the vulnerable in society, support some of the most deserving communities, assist the next generation in their pathway to fulfilling careers, and are contributing towards digitising our NHS.