Summary: Miss X complains that the Council failed to properly deal with her application to renew her freedom pass. The Ombudsman has discontinued his investigation as further investigation will not achieve any more for Miss X. This is because the Council has agreed to reimburse the costs of Miss X’s travel which she incurred while her pass was deactivated.

The complaint

1. Miss X complains the Council failed to properly deal with her application to renew her freedom pass, wrongly cancelled it and delayed in issuing a new pass. Miss X says she had to borrow money to pay for her travel costs and take annual leave as she could not afford to pay for her travel costs. This caused distress and embarrassment to her.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate complaints about councils and certain other bodies. Where an individual, organisation or private company is providing services on behalf of a council, we can investigate complaints about the actions of these providers. (Local Government Act 1974, section 25(7), as amended)
3. We can decide whether to start or discontinue an investigation into a complaint within our jurisdiction. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 24A(6) and 34B(8), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

4. I have:

• Considered the complaint and the information provided by Miss X;
• Discussed the issues with Miss X;
• Considered the Council’s responses to Miss X’s complaint at stage one and stage two of the Council’s complaints procedure;
• Invited Miss X and the Council to comment on the draft decision. I considered any comments received before making a final decision.

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What I found

5. Miss X is a holder of a freedom pass which allows free travel for eligible people who have a disability. London Councils administer freedom passes on behalf of London Boroughs including Lambeth Council.
6. In October 2019 Miss X applied for a renewal of her freedom pass. In late January 2020 Miss X found the pass had stopped working some weeks before it was due to expire.
7. Miss X contacted the Council who told her to complete a further application form. Miss X also made a complaint which the Council considered at stage one of its two stage complaints procedure. The Council said it had not properly dealt with Miss X’s application for the renewal of her pass and it should not have told her to make a further application. Instead, the officer dealing with Miss X’s call should have asked the Council to urgently process Miss X’s application. The Council said Miss X should receive her new pass within five to 10 working days.
8. Miss X did not receive the pass so she made a further complaint to the Council. She asked the Council to refund her travel costs for the five week period she did not have a pass. The Council said Miss X’s pass was put through as a renewal on 30 January 2020 and London Councils advised it would issue the pass in February. It did not do so until March. The Council said it would not refund the travel costs incurred while Miss X did not have a pass.
9. Miss X has said she had to borrow money from friends and family and take annual leave as she could not afford the costs of travelling to work between 25 January and 29 February 2020 when she did not have a freedom pass. This caused embarrassment and distress to her.
10. I issued a draft decision finding the Council to be at fault as it acknowledged in its stage one complaint response that it had not properly dealt with Miss X’s application. I also considered the Council delayed in issuing the new pass to Miss X.
11. In response to my draft decision, the Council has said Miss X did not provide the medical evidence required to support her application when she submitted it in October 2019. The Council has said it wrote to Miss X to request this information in November 2019 but did not receive a response so it deactivated her pass. Miss X then submitted a new application. The Council considers Miss X’s pass would not have been deactivated and she would not have had to pay her travel costs if she had provided the medical information. However, the Council has agreed to reimburse the costs of Miss X’s travel for the period she did not have a pass.

Analysis

12. The Council has provided conflicting information. In its response to Miss X’s complaint it said it did not properly deal with Miss X’s renewal application. In response to my draft decision the Council said it deactivated Miss X’s pass as she did not provide the required medical information to renew her pass. It is not clear why the Council did not provide this information in its responses to Miss X’s complaints.
13. Given the conflicting information I cannot come to a view on whether the Council is at fault without further investigation. However, I do not consider it would be proportionate to investigate the complaint further. This is because the Council has agreed to apologise and reimburse Miss X for her travel costs between 25 January and 29 February 2020. Further investigation will not achieve any more for Miss X.
14. The Council should also review its procedures for processing applications for Freedom Passes to ensure the delays in issuing passes do not recur.

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Final decision

15. I have discontinued my investigation as further investigation will not achieve any more for Miss X. This is because the Council has agreed to reimburse the costs of Miss X’s travel incurred during the period her freedom pass was deactivated.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman