Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s decision not to provide alternative school transport arrangements for the complainant’s child. There is not enough evidence of fault in the way the Council considered the matter to justify an investigation.

The complaint

1. Mrs X says her daughter, I shall call Y, suffers from travel sickness. She complains the Council refuses to change Y’s school transport arrangements.
2. She wants the Council to provide school transport for a more direct route to and from home.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact 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 or continue 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))

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How I considered this complaint

4. I considered information provided by Mrs X and the Council.
5. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

6. Y has Special Educational Needs (SEND). The Council provides home to school transport to take her to and from school.
7. Mrs X told the Council Y is suffering from travel sickness because of the roundabout route followed by the school transport. She asked the Council to change Y’s travel arrangements to a shorter, more direct route.
8. The Council checked to see if there was alternative transport available. It also contacted Y’s school. The school confirmed it has no details of Y having problems on arrival at school, she travelled on the minibus to swimming lessons and had also been on a school trip. It was not aware of Y having problems with travel sickness.
9. Having established there was no alternative transport available, the Council advised Mrs X it would be changing Y’s transport. However, it did confirm it could provide a personal travel allowance if she wished to take her to and from school herself. The Council’s refusal letter also provided details of the appeal process.
10. Mrs X appealed against the Council’s refusal to change Y’s travel arrangements.
11. The documents provided by the Council shows it considered Mrs X’s appeal at an appeal panel and considered supporting information she provided which included Y’s medical information. The panel found:
• the journey time was well within the Government guidelines for a secondary school pupil
• the medical information supplied by Mrs X was unacceptable as it was not signed by a medical professional, nor was it dated or on headed note paper
• the school confirmed Y travelled to swimming lessons and a school trip, and it had no record of Y having suffered from travel sickness; and
• there were no seats available on any alternative routes.
12. The appeal panel decided there was no exceptional circumstances to warrant providing alternative travel arrangements for Y which would have to be commissioned. It recommended officers review Y’s transport arrangements each term and look for a seat on another route which does not incur additional cost to the Council. It also recommended the Travel Team; the transport contactor and Mrs X explore other strategies to address Y’s travel sickness.
13. Mrs X remains unhappy with the Council’s decision and wants us to find the Council at fault. The Ombudsman cannot criticise the outcome of a council’s decision provided it has made it in line with the correct process. The evidence shows the Council has considered Mrs X’s evidence in line with its policy and decided it will not provide alternate travel arrangements for Y. The Council has taken Mrs X through its appeals process and maintained its decision. There is no evidence of fault in the way the Council made its decision. An investigation into this matter would therefore be unlikely to result in finding fault on the Council’s part.

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Final decision

14. We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because an investigation will be unlikely to find fault in the Council’s decision-making process.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman