Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint about the Council’s decision not to provide her son with free transport to school. This is because there is not enough evidence of fault by the Council.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complains about the decision not to provide her son 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 Mrs X’s complaint to the Ombudsman and the information she provided. I looked at documents from the Council and gave Mrs X the opportunity to comment on a draft statement before reaching a final decision on her complaint.

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What I found

5. Mrs X asked the Council to provide her son (Y) with free transport to the secondary school he would be attending from September 2020 (School Z). The Council refused Mrs X’s application because Y would not be attending the catchment or closest school to her home.
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. Mrs X appealed the Council’s decision and provided information in support of her appeal. Mrs X explained she wanted Y to attend the same school as his brother who has an Education, Health and Care Plan. Mrs X explained there would be logistical issues if the two children attended different schools. Mrs X was worried that if she paid for Y’s transport to School Z it could be withdrawn. Mrs X questioned why the Council would provide transport to the catchment schools, which were over 17 miles away, but not to School Z, which was just over nine miles from her home.
8. A panel of elected members considered Mrs X’s appeal at the second stage of the Council’s process. Mrs X attended the appeal which was held remotely due to COVID-19. The Council’s representative explained Y’s brother received free transport to School Z under the Council’s previous policy. This provided transport to the catchment school or another school if closer and over the statutory walking distance. But the Council’s policy now only provided free transport to the catchment school, or the closest school, if it was over three miles. This did not apply to Mrs X’s application. It was Mrs X’s decision to send Y to School Z and so he did not qualify for free transport.
9. Mrs X had the opportunity to present her case and the panel asked questions. The panel considered the information it was presented with. It decided the Council had properly applied its policy and there were no reasons to make an exception to its published policy.
10. Mrs X disagrees with the panel’s decision. But this is not evidence of fault. The Ombudsman is not an appeal body and we cannot criticise a properly made decision or intervene to substitute an alternative view. As I explain in paragraph 3, we can only criticise a council’s decision if there was fault in the way it was reached.
11. 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. They need to look at each case on its merits.
12. The evidence available shows the panel reached a decision it was entitled to, taking into account the information it was presented with. It explained its decision to Mrs X. 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

13. The Ombudsman will not investigate Mrs 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