Summary: We 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. The complainant, whom I shall refer to as Mrs X, complained about the Council’s decision not to provide her son with free transport to her preferred Catholic school. The Council refused Mrs X’s request because it said there was a closer Catholic school to Mrs X’s home.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate complaints of injustice caused by ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. I have used the word fault to refer to these. We consider whether there was fault in the way an organisation made its decision. If there was no fault in the decision making, we cannot question the outcome. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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What I found

Legislation

5. Councils have a duty to provide free transport to school to ‘eligible’ children. Eligible children include:
• Children attending the nearest qualifying school to home where the distance to school is more than the statutory walking distance (two miles for children up to the age of eight, and three miles for children aged eight and over).
• Children who cannot walk to school, accompanied as necessary, because of the nature of the route.
• Children who cannot walk to school because of their special educational needs.
• Extra help is also available to children from low-income families – defined as children receiving free school meals or where their parents receive the maximum level of working tax credit. The extra help includes free transport if the school is between two and 15 miles from home and is the nearest school based on the parents’ religion or belief.
6. Councils must apply their published 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 parents can use to challenge decisions.

What happened

7. Mrs X asked the Council to provide her son (Y) with free transport to her preferred school (School B). This was a Catholic Aided school which is now an academy. The Council refused Mrs X’s application. It said there was another school (School C) which is closer to Mrs X’s home. School C was also a Catholic Aided school which is now an academy. The Council said because Y was not attending the closest Catholic school he did not qualify for free transport.
8. Mrs X appealed the Council’s decision. She said Y would qualify for free transport to School C and School B was a similar distance from home. Mrs X explained many of the children who attended School C were not Catholic.
9. The Council considered Mrs X’s appeal at Stage 1 of its process. It decided its policy, which aligns with the information in paragraph 6, had been properly applied. It did not uphold her appeal.
10. Mrs X asked for her appeal to be considered at the second and final stage of the Council’s process. Mrs X attended the Stage 2 appeal. The appeal panel agreed with the Stage 1 finding that the Council’s policy had been properly applied. The panel decided there were no exceptional reasons to provide transport. It therefore refused Mrs X's appeal. The panel also recognised there had been a delay in dealing with Mrs X’s appeal, and because of this, granted free transport to School B for a year.

Assessment

11. Mrs X disagrees with the Council’s decisions. 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 2, we can only criticise a council’s decision if there was fault in the way it was reached.
12. The Council has applied its transport policy which reflects the statutory requirements set out in paragraph 5. There is no indication of fault in the way it did this or in how it reached the decision Mrs X’s son does not qualify for free transport.
13. Appeal panels are entitled to make their own judgements on the information before them. They need to look at each case on its merits.
14. The evidence available shows the panel reached a decision it was entitled to, taking into account the information it was presented with. The decision letter to Mrs X explained the panel’s decision.
15. Based on the evidence available, it is unlikely an investigation would find enough fault with the way the Council has acted to question the decisions reached. We will not therefore investigate.

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Final decision

16. We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because there is not enough evidence of fault by the Council.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman