ULEZ grace period

Thought this might be of wider interest so I’m putting it here.

My friend is on AA and has a blue badge - this entitles him to a four-year ULEZ grace period.

TfL have rejected his application because his AA decision notice does not refer to the award being indefinite (or fixed but expiring after the end of the grace period).  This is a fundamental misunderstanding of AA awards.  AA is awarded indefinitely by default, but DWP may award for a fixed period if an indefinite one would be inappropriate (eg change of circumstance anticipated).  See Reg 17(1) and (3) of the 1987 C&P Regs.  My friend’s AA award letter makes no reference to it being for a fixed period, therefore it’s indefinite by operation of law - there is no need for the letter to say so.  So we will have to school TfL about the C&P Regs.

I think they are probably confusing it with PIP - PIP(m) is another route to a grace period and s88 of the WRA 2012 says the exact opposite of Reg 17: a PIP award is for a fixed period by default unless the DWP positively decides to award indefinitely.  You would expect the decision notice to say so if that’s the case.

Worth knowing in case anyone else encounters the same issue (TfL’s letter hints that they are rejecting a large number of applications for this reason).