Royal Borough of Greenwich (19 007 754)

Category : Education > School transport

Decision : Upheld

Decision date : 27 Nov 2019

The Ombudsman's final decision:

Summary: There was fault in the way the Council considered Mrs B’s application for home to school transport. However, the Council has provided a suitable remedy for the injustice caused.

The complaint

  1. Mrs B complains about the way the Council considered her application for home to school transport for her son who has special educational needs.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

  1. 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)
  2. 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)
  3. Under the information sharing agreement between the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman and the Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills (Ofsted), we will share this decision with Ofsted.

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How I considered this complaint

  1. I have considered information provided by Mrs B and the Council together with relevant law and guidance.
  2. I have written to Mrs B and the Council with my draft decision and considered their comments.

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What I found

Legal and administrative background

  1. The Education Act 1996 says councils must provide free home to school transport for eligible children of statutory school age to qualifying schools.
  2. Eligible children are children of compulsory school age who:
    • cannot walk to school because of their special educational needs, disability or a mobility problem; or
    • live beyond the statutory walking distance; or
    • receive free school meals, or whose parents receive the maximum Working Tax Credit.
  3. The nearest qualifying school is the nearest school with places available that provides education suitable to the age, ability and aptitude of the child, and any special educational needs the child may have.
  4. The Government issued statutory guidance in 2014, ‘Home to school travel and transport guidance’ (‘the guidance’) which recommends councils have a two stage appeal process for parents who wish to challenge a decision about their child’s eligibility for travel support:
  • Stage 1: review by a senior officer;
  • Stage 2: review by an independent appeal panel.
  1. The guidance says a parent can challenge a decision on the home to school travel application on the basis of entitlement, distance measurement, route safety and consideration of exceptional circumstances. The parent can challenge the officer’s decision and request a review by an appeal panel.
  2. The guidance says the independent appeal panel should consider written and verbal representations from both the parent and officers involved in the case. Appeal panel members must be independent of the original decision-making process but do not have to be independent of the council.

Key facts

  1. Mrs B’s son, C, has autistic spectrum disorder, dyspraxia and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. He has an education health care plan (EHC plan) which stipulates that he should attend School X which is a mainstream secondary school with designated special provision for children with autism.
  2. C was due to start at the school in September 2019. Mrs B applied to the Council for assistance with home to school transport because of his special needs. The Council refused the application.
  3. Mrs B appealed. Her appeal was considered by a review officer but was refused.
  4. Mrs B requested that her appeal be considered at stage 2 of the appeal process. The stage 2 appeal was considered by the Director of health and adult services. The appeal was not upheld. The Council informed Mrs B this was the end of the appeal process.
  5. Mrs B was forced to travel to school by bus with C in order to support him.
  6. Mrs B complained to the Ombudsman. Following this, the Council reviewed the case and decided to reverse its decision not to provide C with travel assistance. It wrote to Mrs B stating that C’s special educational needs had not been taken sufficiently into account in making the original decision. The Council accepted that, based on the evidence provided by C’s previous head teacher and his EHC plan, it would be difficult for him to manage travelling to school either by walking or by public transport even if accompanied by his mother. So it agreed to provide travel assistance.
  7. The Council apologised that Mrs B had been forced to complain to the Ombudsman and offered to pay her £250 for her time and trouble in pursuing the matter and a further £250 for any distress suffered and expenses she incurred as a result of travelling to school with C. In addition, the Council has confirmed that it is setting up an independent stage 2 travel assistance appeal panel to ensure a more robust and fairer approach to travel assistance appeals in future.

Analysis

  1. The guidance recommends local authorities adopt a two-stage appeals process with stage 1 being a review by a senior officer and stage 2 being a review by an independent appeal panel.
  2. The Council’s policy states that a stage 1 appeal will be considered by the Head of special educational needs and a stage 2 appeal will be considered by an independent panel. However, it does not allow parents the opportunity to attend the hearing and make verbal representations.
  3. The guidance states that the independent appeal panel should consider written and verbal representations from both the parent and officers involved in the case and give a detailed written notification of the outcome setting out the nature of the decision reached, what factors were considered and the rationale for the decision.
  4. Mrs B was not given the opportunity to attend a panel hearing to give verbal representations due to the Council’s policy. In addition, despite the Council’s policy stating that a stage 2 appeal would be considered by an independent panel, this did not happen in Mrs B’s case.
  5. So, there was fault by the Council in the way it considered Mrs B’s appeal for home to school transport. This caused her significant injustice as she was denied the opportunity to present her case to the panel for consideration.

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Agreed action

  1. The Council has agreed that it will:
    • pay Mrs B £500 within one month of the Ombudsman’s final decision;
    • put in place the new travel arrangements to start at the beginning of the new term in January but agree all the arrangements with Mrs B by the end of the current term to allow C time to adjust to the arrangements before they start; and
    • set up the independent stage 2 travel assistance appeal panel within three months of the Ombudsman’s final decision.

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Final decision

  1. There was fault in the way the Council dealt with Mrs B’s appeal for home to school transport for her son.
  2. The Council has agreed to remedy the injustice caused so I have completed my investigation on the basis I am satisfied with its actions.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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