Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council’s decision to refuse his application for free home to school transport for his son. This is because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council to warrant an investigation.

The complaint

1. The complainant, Mr X, complains about the Council’s decision that his son does not qualify for free home to school transport because he is not attending the nearest school. Mr X says his son is anxious about the transition to secondary school and is awaiting an assessment for ADHD. The Council’s decision has made him more anxious about starting at his new school. Mr X says the Council did not tell him it would not consider his evidence about school distance prior to the appeal hearing.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse effect on the person making the complaint, which we call ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We do not start an investigation if we decide the tests set out in our Assessment Code are not met. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)
3. We do not start an investigation if we decide there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
4. 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 how the organisation made its decision, we cannot question the outcome. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

5. I considered information provided by the complainant.
6. I considered the Council’s school travel policy (September 2019).
7. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

8. Mr X applied for free transport to school for his son for when he starts secondary school in September. The Council refused the application on the basis that the school, which had been the first and only preference on his application, was not the nearest suitable school. It was the second nearest school.
9. The Council’s school travel policy says it will provide funded transport for children attending their nearest suitable school where the distance from home to school is over the statutory walking distance.
10. Mr X appealed the Council’s decision. At the appeal hearing he provided his own measurements which he said showed the school was the nearest one to his home address. He also provided additional information about the family’s circumstances.
11. The appeal panel explained the Council uses the Ordnance Survey Mastermap Highways Network to measure distances and that other methods of measuring distances are not used as they may not be accurate and are not consistent. It rejected Mr X’s appeal as the decision had been made in line with the Council’s policy as his son was not attending the nearest suitable school. It considered the additional information Mr X provided but did not identify any exceptional circumstances which would cause it to depart from the Council’s policy.
12. We will not investigate this complaint. This is because, whilst I acknowledge Mr X’s dissatisfaction with the Council’s decision, there is no sign of fault by the Council here. The application was considered, decided and refused in line with its published school travel policy. Mr X’s son does not qualify for free school transport because he is not attending the nearest suitable school. We are not an appeal body and it is not our role to question the Council’s decisions where, as here, there is no sign of fault in the way it was reached.
13. Information on how distances are calculated is set out in the Council’s school travel policy which is published on the Council’s website. This states the Ordnance Survey Mastermap Highways Network is used for all distance measurements. This information was readily available to Mr X prior to the appeal hearing. The Council’s website also provides a tool that parents can use to identify the nearest suitable school to their home address for school transport purposes.

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Final decision

14. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because there is no sign of fault by the Council.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman