Suffolk County Council (19 008 840)

Category : Education > School transport

Decision : Closed after initial enquiries

Decision date : 16 Mar 2020

The Ombudsman's final decision:

Summary: Ms X complains the Council failed to consider her circumstances when it refused her appeal for home to school transport for her children. The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint as we are unlikely to find fault in the way the Council dealt with her appeal. Nor is further investigation likely to lead to a different outcome.

The complaint

  1. Ms X complains the Council wrongly refused her application for Home to School Transport for her two children. Ms X says she has mobility and health issues so finds it difficult to get her daughters to school.
  2. She wants the Council to provide home to school transport for her children for the foreseeable future.

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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’. We provide a free service but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start or continue with an investigation if we believe:
  • it is unlikely we would find fault
  • it is unlikely further investigation will lead to a different outcome
  • we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A (6), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

  1. I have read the papers submitted by Ms X and spoken to her about the complaint. I considered the Council’s comments on the complaint and the supporting documents it provided.
  2. Ms X had the opportunity to comment on the draft version of this decision.

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What I found

Background

  1. Councils have a duty to provide free home to school transport for eligible children 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 statutory walking distance is two miles for a child aged under eight and three miles for a child aged eight and over. It is measured by the shortest route along which a child, accompanied as necessary, may walk with reasonable safety.
  4. 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.
  5. Case law and the Guidance defined a suitable school as a qualifying school that provides education appropriate to the age, ability and aptitude of the child and any special educational need they might have. Parents often wrongly believe a school is not suitable because of a poor Ofsted rating or bullying. However, the consideration of suitability is limited to the definition.
  6. If a parent chooses a school beyond the relevant walking distance when there was a vacancy at a school the council deems suitable nearer home, the child will not be eligible for free transport to the chosen school.
  7. The Government has set out a recommended two stage review and appeals process for parents who wish to challenge a decision about their child’s eligibility for travel support:
    • stage one: Review by a senior officer.
    • Stage two: Review by an independent appeal panel.
  8. The guidance says a parent can challenge a decision on the home to school travel application based on 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.
  9. The guidance also 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.
  10. Councils have the power to provide discretionary funding for children who are not eligible. This is only in exceptional circumstances.
  11. The Council’s policy says that parents and carers are responsible for ensuring their children attend school and this includes getting them to and from school. However, the Council will help in some circumstances as well as its legal obligation to provide free transport for children of compulsory school age (5 to 16) if they go to their nearest suitable school with places available and live within the statutory walking distance.
  12. The Council does not provide travel assistance where parents choose an alternative school for their child and it is over the statutory walking distance.
  13. Parents can challenge a decision about transport entitlement on the following grounds; the arrangements offered, the child’s eligibility, distance measurements, safety of the route and consideration of exceptional circumstances.
  14. The Council’s Review/Appeals policy is a 2-stage process. Stage 1 is a review by a senior officer in the Passenger Transport Team or a panel of officers. If the applicant is not satisfied by the stage 1 review decision and the appeal:
    • is on any grounds of safety; and
    • the child is not attending their nearest suitable school, but the applicant believes there are exceptional reasons and wishes to make verbal representation

The stage 2 appeal will be heard by the Education Transport Appeals Committee.

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What happened

  1. Ms X’s children attend a school over four miles away from her home. Ms X says she did not apply for places at the nearest school because of an assault on her by a parent of a child who attends that school. Ms X says the Police cautioned the assailant. Ms X says the assault affected her children.
  2. Ms X says she has mobility, physical and mental health issues. They live in a remote area with no public bus service to the school. So, Ms X says she finds it difficult getting her children to school unless by using taxis which she cannot afford. Ms X applied to the Council in March 2018 for home to school transport starting in September 2018 seeking a taxi service to get her children to and from school. The Council says it does not respond to applications until it assesses all applications for the new school year.
  3. The Council wrote to Ms X refusing her application because her children do not attend the nearest suitable school. The Council advised Ms X of her rights to challenge the decision.
  4. Ms X appealed in August 2018. The Council asked Ms X to send more information to support her challenge. Ms X sent information in September 2018. The Transport Entitlement team found there were spaces at Ms X’s nearest school in the year groups for her children.
  5. It considered Ms X’s appeal in October 2018. The Council’s notes of the meeting say the panel considered all the evidence provided and there were spaces at the nearest suitable school for the children. It considered Ms X did not provide evidence showing why they could not attend that school. There was no evidence submitted from professionals such as the police or social workers about the alleged assault with the only details coming from Ms X. Although Ms X stated police involvement there was no evidence provided of this. The panel said the school the children were attending was not the nearest, so Ms X’s application was outside Council policy. The Council wrote to advise Ms X of the decision.
  6. Ms X complained to the Ombudsman about this decision. The Ombudsman found fault by the Council in the way it considered Ms X’s appeal for home to school transport as she was not able to present her case to the appeal panel. The Ombudsman recommended it review its Home to School Transport appeals policy to ensure it is in line with the statutory guidance and provide a copy of the revised policy.
  7. The Council carried out the Ombudsman’s recommendation and changed its school transport appeal policy. It is now in line with government guidance.
  8. The Council referred Ms X’s appeal to the Education Transport Appeals Committee.
  9. The Committee’s role was to consider whether the Council had properly applied its policy and, if so whether Ms X’s case warrants awarding free school transport as an exceptional case. The Committee considered the information provided by Ms X and she presented her case.
  10. Ms X says the committee meeting was all about the Council and did not consider her or her children. The clerk’s notes from the appeal hearing show the committee considered the information Ms X provided in support of her application. This included new information she presented to the committee on the day. Ms X also spoke to the committee. The Committee was not convinced that the circumstances were sufficiently exceptional to uphold the appeal. The weight the committee members gave to the information provided is a matter for them, not the Ombudsman. Without evidence of fault in the way the committee made its decision, the Ombudsman cannot criticise the merits of the decision or provide an alternative view.

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Final decision

  1. I will not investigate this complaint. This is because we are unlikely to find fault in the way the Council considered Ms X’s appeal. And it is unlikely further investigation will lead to a different outcome.

Investigator’s decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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