Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about how the Council has considered his application and appeal for transport to school for his daughter. This is because there is not enough evidence of fault by the Council and so we cannot question the merits of its decisions.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains about the decision not to provide his daughter with free transport to school.

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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. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)
3. We cannot question whether a council’s decision is right or wrong simply because the complainant disagrees with it. We must consider whether there was fault in the way the decision was reached. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

4. I considered Mr X’s complaint to the Ombudsman and the information he provided. I looked at documents from the Council and gave Mr X the opportunity to comment on a draft statement before reaching a final decision on his complaint.

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What I found

5. Mr X applied for his daughter (Y) to start secondary school in September 2019. Mr X applied for a place at the school his son attends (School Z). The Council offered Y a place at School Z and Mr X asked the Council to provide Y with free transport to school. The Council refused because Y would not be attending the closest school to home. She would instead be attending a school based on ‘parental preference’. The Council said this meant there was no legal entitlement to free transport.
6. Councils must apply their transport policy when deciding entitlement to transport assistance. But they also have the discretion to consider exceptional circumstances. They must have a review or appeal process by which to do so.
7. Mr X appealed the Council’s decision and provided information in support of his appeal. Mr X explained how the Council had offered his elder child a place at School Z when they moved into the area. It had also provided his elder child with free transport to School Z. Mr X wanted his children to attend the same school. An independent panel considered Mr X’s case at the second stage of the appeals process.
8. The panel considered the Council’s transport policy and information from Mr X. Papers from the Council explained Y could have attended a closer school to home. The panel decided the Council had properly applied its policy. It decided there was no automatic entitlement to transport assistance. Its decision letter explained “The statutory criteria used to determine whether a school was considered to be suitable did not include whether the child had a sibling at the school.” The panel decided there were no exceptional circumstances meaning transport should be granted.
9. The Ombudsman is not an appeal body and we cannot criticise a decision which is properly made or intervene to substitute an alternative view. The Council has applied its transport policy and there is no indication of fault in the way it did so. Appeal panels are entitled to make their own judgements on the information before them. The panel reached a decision it was entitled to, taking into account the information it was presented with. Based on the evidence available, it is unlikely an investigation would find fault with the way the Council has acted.

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Final decision

10. The Ombudsman will not investigate Mr X’s complaint. This is because there is not enough evidence of fault by the Council and so we cannot question the merits of its decisions.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman