Summary: We did not find fault with the Council’s decision not to refund the cost of a travel pass Mrs X bought for her daughter. However, there was fault in the Council’s failure to communicate its decision not to recover the outstanding debt on the account. That Council agreed to apologise to Mrs X and tell other customers of its decision not to recover outstanding debts on travel passes for the 2020-2021 academic year.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complains about the Council’s decision to charge for the cost of a bus pass she bought for her daughter to get to school. She says she moved house and her daughter no longer needed the pass as she travelled to school by train. Mrs X says her mental health difficulties mean she was vulnerable when she bought the pass and could not commit to repaying the monthly costs. She says the cost of paying for the travel pass and train fare will put her further into debt. Mrs X says this has caused her distress. She would like the Council to agree she does not need to make any further payments and that it will not pursue her for any missed payments.

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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. We cannot question whether a council’s decision is right or wrong simply because the complainant disagrees with it. We must consider whether there was fault in the way the decision was reached. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), as amended)
4. We may investigate matters coming to our attention during an investigation, if we consider that a member of the public who has not complained may have suffered an injustice as a result. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26D and 34E, as amended)
5. 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)
6. This complaint involves events that occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic. We can consider whether the council followed the relevant legislation, guidance and our published ‘Good Administrative Practice during the response to COVID-19’.

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How I considered this complaint

7. I have considered the complaints made by Mrs X and the documents she provided.
8. I considered the Council’s comments about the complaint and the documents it provided in response to my enquiries.
9. 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

Background

10. The Council runs a discretionary transport scheme, called the Kent Travel Saver. Parents of children in school years 7 to 11 can buy a bus pass which allows the child to travel to and from school. The Council subsidises the cost of the pass. It says the saving is up to 50% of what a parent might expect to pay if they bought an annual season ticket direct from a bus operator.
11. In the school year September 2019 to July 2020, the pass cost £350 if paid for in full at the time of purchase, with an added £10 charge for those who chose to pay by instalments. The Council provides passes at a reduced cost, or free, to families on a low income, households with three or more children needing a pass, young carers and looked after children.
12. In the information provided to parents about the scheme in 2020, the Council said once a child collected their pass it could not issue a refund. Passes were valid from the point of issue until 31 July 2021 and could be used Monday to Friday between 6am and 7pm. Some bus operators allow pass holders to use their services outside of those times.

What happened

13. Mrs X bought a Travel Saver pass for her daughter in August 2020 and agreed to pay in instalments. At the time the family were living with a family member and Mrs X says there was no other travel option for her daughter to get to school.
14. Mrs X moved house in late October. She said she had to move to reduce the risk of her family member contracting COVID-19 once her children returned to school. Her new home was next to a train station so her daughter no longer required the bus pass. In November she asked the Council to cancel the pass and not take any further payments. The Council said it could not.
15. In December Mrs X complained to the Council. She said the Council’s website did not provide any option for her daughter to get to school by bus so she had no choice but to use the train. Mrs X told the Council a mental health condition meant she could make rash decisions when she felt under pressure, as she did about her daughter’s transition to secondary school and needing to arrange transport. She asked the Council to take account of her difficulties and allow her to cancel the pass. Mrs X cancelled any further repayments.
16. The Council responded in January 2021. It said the complex funding arrangements for the subsidised pass meant refunds were difficult to calculate and administer. It said it had advised parents to carefully consider whether to apply for a pass for the academic year due to the pandemic. The Council said it would not be taking payments in January and February due to school closures as a result of COVID-19 but it could not offer a full refund. It was considering its approach to future payments.
17. Mrs X was unhappy with the Council’s response and asked for it to be considered at the next stage of the Council’s complaint procedure.
18. In its final response in February, the Council said the terms and conditions and information provided to parents about the Travel Saver scheme were clear that no refunds were available. The Council said it was considering waiving instalments for March as well. It said even if there were exceptional grounds to support a refund of Mrs X’s pass, any refund would be less than the value of the instalments the Council had waived. It said it could not find any grounds to refund beyond what it was offering to all parents.
19. Mrs X complained to the Ombudsman in February. The Council decided not to waive instalments for March as schools reopened to pupils.
20. In response to my enquiries, the Council said in April 2021 it decided to write off any outstanding Travel Saver debts “owing to the impact of the pandemic on scheme finances and on Kent families.”
21. The Council wrote to Mrs X during this investigation to tell her it would not be trying to recover her own or any other debt. It told me it had not written to others affected because it did not want to encourage customers to evade payment in future scheme years.

Analysis

22. The terms of the Kent Travel Saver were clear that no refunds would be made once passes had been issued. The Council has provided evidence this information was available to Mrs X at the time she applied for the pass. I do not find fault with the Council’s decision not to issue a refund or its approach to suspending payments during school closures in early 2021.
23. The Council did not tell Mrs X about its decision not to recover the outstanding debt on her account. It says it did not hear from her after its final response in February 2021. However, we told the Council in April that we were investigating Mrs X’s complaint. It therefore should have been aware Mrs X remained unhappy about the Council’s handling of her account and it had an opportunity to tell her of its decision not to recover the debt then. Its failure to tell Mrs X is fault and caused her an extended period of worry about how she would be able to repay the debt if the Council took recovery action.
24. Our guidance on ‘Good Administrative Practice during the response to COVID-19’ reminds councils to be open and accountable, and transparent in their decision making.
25. It is likely other customers are experiencing similar worry and uncertainty about their debt to the Council. I understand the Council is concerned about setting a precedent by telling customers of its decision not to recover outstanding debts. However, the circumstances of the academic year 2020-2021 were exceptional, which is reflected in the Council’s decision to suspend payments and recovery action. I therefore consider it fault, and a lack of transparency, for the Council to not have told other customers of its decision and I have made a recommendation below to remedy this.

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Agreed action

26. Within one month of this decision the Council will apologise to Mrs X for the distress and uncertainty caused by failing to tell her it was not pursuing the outstanding payments.
27. Within two months of this decision the Council will write to all other customers where it decided not to pursue outstanding Travel Saver debts to confirm the Council’s decision. The Council can make it clear the decision was based on the exceptional circumstances caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and only applies to the previous academic year.

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Final decision

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

Investigator’s decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman