Summary: Mrs X complains the Council has not provided free home to school transport despite agreeing her children are eligible. The Council pays her mileage for two
journeys but does not pay for her return home and outward journey. The Council did not properly consider her appeal.

Finding

The Ombudsman has upheld the complaint and found fault causing injustice.

Recommendations

The Council has agreed to:

• reimburse the mileage for Mrs X’s additional journeys (covering all four legs) from home to school from September 2018 and pay four legs of the journey going forward;
• apologise to Mrs X and pay her £50 for each week she took the children to school from September 2018, in recognition of her time and trouble and the anxiety caused. The Council should pay this until it can provide suitable alternative transport or, if at that point, Mrs X confirms she is happy to cover the additional cost of two legs; and
• assess Mr and Mrs X’s second child to consider whether it can provide suitable alternative transport. If it cannot do so, the Council should pay all four legs of Mr X’s journeys.

Within six months of the date of this report it will:

• review its school transport policy and guidance to ensure that it reflects its statutory duty to provide free transport and that it states the Council will pay the full costs of transport to parents where it is unable to provide suitable transport. Where the Council can provide suitable transport and the parent voluntarily agrees a mileage arrangement, this will cover two legs of the journey;
• review other parents’ and carers’ mileage arrangements. Where the Council finds it is unable to provide suitable alternative transport, and as identified in this case, the arrangement is not voluntary, it should pay the mileage costs of four legs of the journey where relevant. The Council should provide us with a report confirming its findings and the action taken; and
• take action to address its apparent lack of suitable transport provision to ensure other children who require home to school transport are not adversely affected. The Council should report its  progress to the relevant committee to ensure that elected members can monitor this. The Council should update its Local Offer to reflect the transport provision available. The Council should provide us with a report confirming the actions it has taken.

Ombudsman satisfied with Council's response: 26 November 2020.

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