Summary

Complaint from a mother about the council's decision to withdraw free school transport for her two daughters because the family moved house and didn't notify the council.

The complaint

Complaint from a mother about the council's decision to withdraw free school transport for her two daughters because the family moved house and didn't notify the council. The council failed to properly consider the mother's special reasons and circumstances and the relevant issues including whether the change of address was significant.

Finding

The Ombudsman upheld the complaint and found fault causing injustice.

Recommendations

To remedy the injustice caused, we recommend the council:

• review within one month of the date of this report the decision to withdraw free school transport to the two girls. It should give proper consideration to information provided by the mother on financial circumstances and other aspects of her case;
• should, as part of the review consider whether it is appropriate to a) reimburse the cost of the bus pass for the older daughter for the period from March 2013 to July 2013 and b) restore exemption for the younger daughter and reimburse the cost of the bus pass to and from primary school from March 2013 to present;
• apologise in writing to the mother for the way the original decision was made and reviewed, and for sending her and her husband invoice reminder notices when the decision was subject to review;
• review its transport policy within three months of the date of this report to ensure it:
  • provides a comprehensive statement of school transport for children of statutory school age including faith school transport and removes the need for parents to read an admissions guide to fully understand the transport policy;
  • provides detailed information about the review procedure; and
  • does not constrain the exercise of discretion (exemption from consideration of a family's financial circumstances when the appellant's case relates solely to those circumstances).

 

 

 

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