Summary: Mrs X complains the transport provided by the Council for her daughter to attend school as late for a week. We found fault as Mrs X’s daughter missed the start of the school day. The Council has already apologised to Mrs X for any inconvenience caused which is a suitable remedy in this case. So, we are completing our investigation.

The complaint

1. The complainant whom I shall refer to as Mrs X complains the Council failed to provide suitable school transport for her daughter, Y so she was late starting school causing distress.

Back to top

The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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, or
• the fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained, or
• the injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement, or
• it is unlikely we could add to any previous investigation by the Council, or
• it is unlikely further investigation will lead to a different outcome.

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

3. 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)
4. 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.

Back to top

How I considered this complaint

5. I have read the papers submitted by Mrs X. I considered the Council’s response to Mrs X’s complaints.
6. Mrs X and the Council had an opportunity to comment on my draft decision. I considered any comments received before making a final decision.

Back to top

What I found

Background

School transport

7. Section 508B of the Education Act 1996 sets out councils’ responsibilities for home to school transport. The Department for Education’s ‘Home-to-school travel and transport statutory guidance’ says councils must “make such travel arrangements as they consider necessary to facilitate attendance at school for eligible children.”
8. The guidance sets out which children are eligible for free transport. This includes children who live further away than statutory walking distance (two miles for children under eight; three miles for children between eight and 16). It also includes children who cannot reasonably be expected to walk to school because of their special educational needs, disability or mobility problem.
9. The Council’s transport policy says it will provide travel assistance for children to get to school if they have a statement of Special educational needs, or disabilities or an Education health and care plan, or with mobility problems. This is if they could not reasonably be expected to travel to school independently and even if the journey is within the statutory walking distance.
10. The Council’s Passenger Transport Service (PTS) coordinates school travel for children and young people up to 25 years old with special educational needs and disabilities , as long as the passenger can walk unaided or with support, is a wheelchair user and can transfer to a seat.

What happened

11. Mrs X’s daughter Y is a wheelchair user and has transport to school provided by the PTS. Y’s school day started at 9 am. In September 2019 Mrs X complained to the Council Y’s transport arrived late each day between 09.30 and 09.45 for the first week of the summer term. So, Y was late starting school each day.
12. Mrs X says the Council failed to keep her informed of the situation and when she took her daughter to school, she saw other children in local authority transport who had arrived on time. Mrs X says she is unhappy with the care Y received from the Council.
13. The Council investigated Mrs X’s complaint. It said PTS arranged transport for Y from a company in September 2019. But the company could not run the service satisfactorily. Y needed a wheelchair accessible vehicle, and so this left Y and some other children without transport.
14. The Council arranged an interim service through another provider. Unfortunately, there were a limited number of providers who provided such a specialised service, and this added to the difficulty in securing the right transport for Y and others.
15. The Council confirmed it resolved the situation after that first week and Y’s journey to school was now much easier. The Council had been able to identify an appropriate provider who could carry out the journey. The Council apologised to Mrs X the delivery of service was not what she wanted for that week and she did not receive clear messages about what the PTS were doing to resolve matters.
16. Mrs X remains unhappy with the Council’s response and treatment of Y.

My assessment

17. The Council has a duty to provide school transport for child such as Y due to a disability or mobility problem and its transport policy says it will provide the transport. The Council arranged transport for Y but unfortunately it was late for the first week. So, Y arrived late at school. I consider this was fault by the Council as Y missed the first hour at least of school for some of the days of that week.
18. I appreciate that this cased distress and inconvenience for Mrs X and Y. However, the Council has apologised to Mrs X for any inconvenience caused which I consider is suitable action for it to take. I consider the apology remedies any injustice caused to Mrs X and Y by the late provision of school transport.
19. I do not consider the fault cause such a significant personal injustice to Mrs X and Y to warrant further investigation about the matter or a different remedy. This is because the Council was able to arrange, within a reasonable timeframe, an alternative service provider to take Y to school and this resolved the situation. Mrs X has not provided any evidence of an ongoing issue with the school transport. I do not consider that any further investigation would add anything to the investigation already carried out by the Council or would lead to a different outcome.

Back to top

Final decision

20. I am completing my investigation. There was fault by the Council as the school transport provided for Mrs X’s daughter was late. But the Council’s apology to Mrs X remedies any injustice caused.

Back to top

Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman