Wokingham Borough Council (19 002 419)
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: Mr A complained the Council did not properly consider his application and appeal for free school transport for his children. The Ombudsman has discontinued his investigation as during it the Council heard Mr A’s stage two appeal and offered him free school transport.
The complaint
- Mr A complained the Council had not properly considered his application for free school transport for his children. He said he and his wife could no longer take their children to school because of work commitments and ill health. He applied to the Council for free school transport, but his application had been refused. He said the Council’s stage one appeal panel did not consider further information it asked him to provide and the Council refused him a stage two appeal panel.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- 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)
- 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)
How I considered this complaint
- I have spoken to Mr A and made enquiries of the Council.
What I found
- After the Council had sent me the information I asked for, but before I had been able to consider it, the Council contacted Mr A. It said as a result of an Ombudsman decision on another school transport complaint it was offering him a stage two appeal.
- Mr A accepted this offer. When the Council heard his appeal it awarded him free school transport. Mr A contacted me to let me know this and said he did not want to take his complaint further.
Final decision
- Because of this I have discontinued my investigation. Any fault I may have found appears to have been dealt with by the Ombudsman’s decision on the other case and Mr A has now received what he wanted for his children.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman