Summary: Ms X complains the Council did not provide a passenger assistant to accompany her daughter to school for a three week period and then delayed arranging a permanent passenger assistant. There was fault by the Council because it did not ensure a passenger assistant was in place for Ms X’s daughter even though it was required to do so. The Council agreed a financial remedy for Ms X’s daughter to reflect the loss of education she suffered in consequence of the fault.

The complaint

1. Ms X complains the Council did not provide a passenger assistant to accompany her daughter to school for a three week period. She also complains the Council delayed arranging a permanent passenger assistant.
2. Ms X says the Council only acted because she pressured officers and reminded them the Council has a legal duty to provide transport for her daughter. Ms X says she had to leave her job because of the Council’s inability to provide transport and she still has not returned to work because the Council has not provided permanent transport.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. 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)
4. 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)

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How I considered this complaint

5. I reviewed the complaint and background information provided by Ms X. I sent a draft decision statement to Ms X and the Council and considered the Council’s comments in reply.
6. 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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What I found

7. Ms X’s daughter has a disability which means she requires a passenger assistant to accompany her to school. The Council provides transport for her.
8. At the end of May 2019, the Council was informed by Ms X’s daughter’s school that assigned passenger would leave her position by the end of June.
9. The Council’s travel team did not have any suitably trained officer available who could step into the role as passenger assistant. The Council contacted medical professionals who dealt with Ms X’s daughter but none could offer any help.
10. The Council says it considered training someone from its own pool of passenger assistants but it could not find a suitable person.
11. The Council considered using agency staff but could not find any suitable staff.
12. At the end of September, the Council decided upon a solution using temporary staff from a Family Partnership Zone. It then arranged transport with a taxi firm. The Council intended to put in place a permanent transport as soon as it could find a suitably qualified passenger assistant.
13. The Council apologised to Ms X because she was not kept informed of what officers were doing throughout the summer. As a result of the issues raised by Ms X, the Council said it was considering having a dedicated officer to manage the transport for pupils with complex special education needs including medical needs.

Finding

14. I find fault by the Council because it did not provide a passenger assistant to accompany Ms X’s daughter to school for a three week period before the end of the school year in July 2019. I recognise the difficulties the Council faced in recruiting a suitable passenger assistant. However, it was required to provide school transport for Ms X’s daughter and it did not meet this duty.
15. Where we find fault by a council we must go on to consider the injustice and a possible remedy for the injustice. In this case, Ms X’s daughter missed school for three weeks. The injustice was a loss of education.
16. The Ombudsman’s guidance on remedies recommends a payment in acknowledgement of lost education of £200-600 per month. Given Ms X's daughter’s medical needs, I consider an appropriate figure for the uncertainty to be £400.
17. I note Ms X’s statement that she had to leave her job because of the Council’s inability to provide transport. But I cannot conclude that the Council’s inability to provide a passenger assistant towards the end of the 2018/19 school year led Ms X to lose her job.

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Final decision

18. There was fault by the Council which caused Ms X’s daughter an injustice. The complaint has been closed because the Council agreed a financial remedy for the injustice.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman