Summary: We found fault with the Council’s handling of Mrs X’s daughter’s home to school transport. The Council failed to ensure the taxi operator it commissioned was complying with guidance related to COVID-19. The Council agreed to apologise to Mrs X and her daughter and pay a mileage allowance for the days Mrs X drove her to school.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complained about the home to school transport for her daughter, Y. She said the transport was late and she was also concerned a driver had a persistent cough but was not tested for COVID-19. Mrs X transported Y to school herself, which she said was tiring and caused her daughter unnecessary anxiety. Mrs X would like the Council to meet her fuel costs, provide Y with transport to school, and ensure the transport provider is complying with guidance about testing for COVID-19.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word fault to refer to these. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint. I refer to this as ‘injustice’. If there has been fault which has caused an injustice, we may suggest a remedy. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26(1) and 26A(1), as amended)
3. 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)
4. If we are satisfied with a council’s actions or proposed actions, we can complete our investigation and issue a decision statement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 30(1B) and 34H(i), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

5. I have considered the complaint made by Mrs X and the documents she provided.
6. I considered the Council’s comments about the complaint and the documents it provided in response to my enquiries.
7. Mrs X and the Council had an opportunity to comment on my draft decision. I considered any comments received before making a final decision.

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What I found

Legislation and guidance

8. This complaint involves events that occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Government introduced a range of new and frequently updated rules and guidance during this time. We can consider whether the council followed the relevant legislation, guidance and our published “Good Administrative Practice during the response to COVID-19”.

School transport

9. The Department for Education’s ‘Home-to-school travel and transport statutory guidance’ says councils must “make such travel arrangements as they consider necessary to facilitate attendance at school for eligible children.”
10. The guidance sets out which children are eligible for free transport. This includes children who live further away than statutory walking distance (two miles for children under eight; three miles for children between eight and 16). Journeys must be “safe and reasonably stress free, to enable the child to arrive to school ready for a day of study.”
11. A council may make travel arrangements for an eligible child by offering a mileage allowance to the parent to drive the child to school, if the parent agrees. This would be in place of the council making arrangements for a taxi to transport the child.
12. The guidance sets out a recommended appeals procedure for councils to follow. Parents may challenge decisions about the transport arrangements offered, their child’s eligibility, the distance measurement from home to school and the safety of the route.

The impact of COVID-19

13. In July 2020, the government published safer transport guidance for operators to help transport organisations understand how to provide safer services for their staff and passengers in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
14. The guidance said workers with symptoms of COVID-19, however mild, should self-isolate for at least 10 days from when their symptoms started. Symptoms included:
• a high temperature.
• a new continuous cough, defined as coughing a lot for more than an hour, or three or more coughing episodes in 24 hours; and
• a loss of change to your sense of smell or taste.
15. Employers were required to encourage employees with symptoms to apply for a COVID-19 test.
16. The government published further guidance about transport to school in August 2020. This said, “Drivers and passenger assistants must not work if they have symptoms...If they develop symptoms whilst at work they must go home and get a test.”

What happened

17. Mrs X’s daughter Y attends a special school 15 miles from her home. She receives home to school transport from the Council, which is provided by a local taxi operator. The taxi operator’s contract was based on a school start time of 8.20am and finish time of 4pm.
18. Mrs X says three of her family have asthma and her husband has coeliac disease. She says as a result the family has been particularly careful about their exposure to COVID-19.
19. On the return to school in September 2020, Y’s school decided to temporarily change its opening times to 9am to 3pm. The Council says it was not told about the change in opening hours and schools were working directly with transport providers.
20. At the end of the first week of the new term, Mrs X noticed the taxi was picking Y up late from school and reported this to the Council.
21. The Council contacted the taxi operator. The operator said it had previously discussed the change in school hours with the Council and agreed it should only adjust its collection times if it could accomplish this with ease and without an additional charge. It had managed to alter its morning collection time to accommodate the later school start time but could not accommodate an earlier collection time of 3pm. It said it had told Y’s school it would aim to arrive earlier than 4pm if it had a vehicle and driver available. It said Y had been collected after 4pm on one day due to temporary roadworks causing delays and she was supervised by a member of staff until her taxi arrived each day. The operator said the number of temporary school closures was becoming an increasing problem.
22. In late September, Y told Mrs X the taxi driver who had driven her to and from school had been coughing. She reported the driver coughed again during the journey to and from school the following day. Mrs X became concerned and contacted the taxi operator. Mrs X said she spoke to a manager early the next day who said the driver “only had a bit of a cough”. Mrs X said the driver needed to apply for a COVID-19 test. She says the manager told her he could not make staff get a test or allow all staff who cough to be absent from work. Mrs X says the operator terminated the call when she said she would be complaining to the Council; the operator denies terminating the call.
23. The same driver was sent to collect Y the following morning. However, unhappy with the operator’s response, Mrs X began driving Y to school herself.
24. Mrs X reported her concerns to the Council. The Council sent the operator a link to the government’s guidance about transport to school and drew attention to the need for drivers with symptoms to stop working and get a test. It also asked the operator to confirm the afternoon collection time and whether Y could be picked up closer to the school’s closing time.
25. The operator responded a week later. It said the driver was not showing COVID-19 symptoms but “symptoms of a common cold” and it was aware they had a “slight cough” which had now passed. It said it had followed government guidance throughout. It said it was contracted to collect Y at 4pm but aimed to arrive between 3.15pm and 3.45pm. It said it had adjusted its morning collection time to accommodate the school’s new start time.
26. The Council responded to Mrs X in October. It said it had investigated the matter with the operator who assured the Council it had been following government guidelines. It said the driver visited the operator’s office daily and staff there were not concerned about their symptoms. It passed on the information about collection times and apologised for any distress caused.
27. Mrs X was unhappy with the Council’s response and asked it to investigate her complaint further. She also asked the Council to provide a mileage allowance while she was waiting for the outcome of her complaint.
28. The Council responded to say the taxi operator told it the driver had a slight cough and had since recovered. It said it could not reimburse the cost of fuel if parents decided not to use the transport provided. In respect of late collection, the Council said operators were doing their best to reorganise transport to fit in with the school’s temporary opening and closing times but it had not been possible for all students. While the operator was able to collect Y later in the morning it was unable to arrange for her to be collected earlier in the afternoon. It said it would aim to pick her up between 3.15pm and 3.45pm on the understanding Y would be supervised until collection time.
29. The Council did not provide information to Mrs X about how she could appeal its decision not to offer her a mileage allowance.
30. Mrs X continued to drive Y to and from school until the end of term in December 2020. Once schools reopened following COVID-19 related closures between January and March 2021, Y returned to using the taxi operator.
31. Mrs X says when she spoke to the operator in March to discuss the late arrival of a taxi, the operator told her the driver who had been coughing had tested negative for COVID-19. When Mrs X queried why this information was not shared with her at the time, she says the operator told her it could not discuss individual drivers’ health with parents.
32. Mrs X says the situation caused Y anxiety and affected her ability to concentrate at school. She says she has had to spend hours each day driving Y to and from school which put a strain on her and meant she was not available for her other children.

Analysis

33. On Y being collected late, the taxi operator provided the Council with an explanation and said it had discussed this with the Council and Y’s school. I do not consider the operator was at fault for trying to accommodate the temporary change in school hours. But there is no evidence it discussed this in advance with Mrs X and Y. This was fault and added to their anxiety about Y’s travel to and from school.
34. In relation to COVID-19, the guidance was clear that individuals should isolate even when they only had mild symptoms and should apply for a test. It required their employer to enable them to self-isolate and encourage them to undertake a test.
35. The Council accepts the driver in this case did have a cough over several days and this was observed by colleagues as well as by Y. It was not for the operator to decide the driver had ‘a common cold’. In line with the guidance, the driver should not have been working and should have self-isolated and applied for a COVID-19 test. Instead, the operator appeared dismissive of Mrs X’s concerns and failed to show how it had due regard to the guidance.
36. The Council should have taken responsibility for ensuring the operator was following the guidance in place at the time regarding self-isolation and testing. This would have offered Mrs X reassurance about the safety of the home to school transport. It did not do so, and this was fault. As a result, Mrs X lost faith in the ability of the taxi operator to keep her child safe, considered the transport to be unsuitable, and felt she had no choice but to drive Y herself. In seeking to avoid a brief disruption to its services by not asking its staff to self-isolate and test, the operator caused Mrs X several weeks of disruption in having to drive Y to and from school.
37. Mrs X was clearly unhappy with the transport arrangements offered to Y and the Council’s refusal to pay a mileage allowance. She should have been advised of her appeal rights. The Council did not do so, and this was fault.

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Agreed action

38. Within one month of the final decision, to remedy the injustice caused, the Council will:
• apologise to Mrs X and Y for the faults identified in this investigation.
• pay Mrs X a mileage allowance for the days she transported Y to and from school between 1 October and 11 December.
• pay a further £250 to recognise the distress caused to Mrs X and her family by the Council’s faults.
• remind officers parents have the right of appeal to challenge decisions about the transport arrangements offered to their child, including any decision not to offer a mileage allowance, and that parents must be informed about their appeal rights; and
• remind transport operators about the importance of discussing any changes to transport arrangements with parents in advance, where it is practicable to do so.

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Final decision

39. I have completed my investigation with a finding of fault for the reasons explained in this statement. Mrs X and Y were caused an injustice by the actions of the Council and it has agreed to take action to remedy the injustice.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman