Summary: Miss X says the Council incorrectly assessed her child, Y’s, school transport application. Miss X says this has caused her financial losses and for Y to miss education. We have found fault in the actions of the Council for the delay in offering transport in Y’s school transport application. The Council has agreed to pay Miss X a financial payment.

The complaint

1. Miss X says the Council incorrectly assessed her child, Y’s, school transport application.
2. Miss X says this has caused her financial losses and for Y to miss education.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. 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’. If there has been fault which has caused significant injustice, or that could cause injustice to others in the future we may suggest a remedy. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26(1) and 26A(1), as amended)
4. If we are satisfied with an organisation’s actions or proposed actions, we can complete our investigation and issue a decision statement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 30(1B) and 34H(i), as amended)
5. Under our information sharing agreement, we will share this decision with the Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills (Ofsted).

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How I considered this complaint

6. I considered evidence provided by Miss X and the Council as well as relevant law, policy and guidance.
7. Miss X and the Council were invited to comment on my draft decision. I have considered any comments before making a final decision.

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What I found

8. Local authorities must make suitable home to school travel arrangements as they consider necessary for ‘eligible children’ of compulsory school age to attend their ‘qualifying school’. The travel arrangements must be made and provided free of charge. The relevant qualifying school is the nearest school with places available that provides education appropriate to the age, ability and aptitude of the child, and any special educational needs the child may have. ‘Eligible children’ include:

• children living outside ‘statutory walking distance’ from the school (two miles for children under eight, three miles for children aged eight and above);
• children living within walking distance of the school but who cannot reasonably be expected to walk to school because of their special educational needs, disability or mobility problem;
• children living within walking distance of the school but who cannot walk to school because the route is unsafe; and
• children entitled on low-income grounds. (Education Act 1996, 508B(1) and Schedule 35B)

Transport appeals

9. Councils should have an appeals process in place for parents who wish to appeal about the eligibility of their child for travel support. The statutory guidance recommends councils adopt a specific appeals process.

Previous Ombudsman Investigation

10. Miss X raised a previous complaint with us. The investigation concluded there had been fault in the process the Council had followed concerning Miss X’s application for school transport for Y.
11. The previous investigation recommended a fresh appeal be offered to Miss X and that the Council apologise and remind officers of the relevant statutory guidance and its own transport policy.

What happened

12. Following the previous Ombudsman investigation in June 2024 the Council issued a fresh decision on Miss X’s school transport request in mid-July 2024.
13. The Council decided to uphold Miss X’s appeal and apologised for the extra distress Miss X had suffered. The Council offered Miss X the option of a personal transport budget which would provide either monthly payments towards transport or a one-off lump sum. If Miss X took this option, the Council also offered to backdate the arrangement to cover the previous year at £1,210. The Council also offered an option of a taxi to collect Miss X and Y for school and return Miss X home in the morning. A taxi would then collect Miss X from home to return to school to pick up Y at the end of the day.
14. Miss X chose to accept the offer of taxi provision in mid-July 2024.
15. Miss X raised a complaint with the Council in August 2024 about its failure to address her pleas for help which she said caused her financial losses and for Y to miss school.
16. The Council responded in August 2024 to say it had already considered the complaint.

Analysis

17. In its response to our enquiries the Council confirmed no further information was provided or considered in the fresh appeal. The Council said it made its appeal decision based on the distances outlined in its transport policy.
18. Given the Council has not reviewed any additional information it could have decided to offer transport sooner. Not doing so is fault and has caused Miss X distress and to incur financial losses.
19. The Council’s appeal decision response issued in July 2024 also says it felt Miss X was entitled to have a personal budget option backdated to when Miss X originally asked the Council for help.
20. Miss X has confirmed she has incurred costs of taxis to transport Y to school and has had to pay a relative money for petrol to receive lifts to school. Miss X would not have incurred these costs had the Council made its decision sooner. Miss X did not keep a record of the costs she incurred.
21. Miss X has said that Y missed education due to the Council failing to help with transport. I have seen Y’s attendance record and while I can see there have been instances where he has arrived late or has not attended school because of transport issues, there has also been instances where he has not attended for other reasons. Therefore, I cannot say the only reason Y has not been at school is because of transport issues.
22. The Council offered to backdate the personal transport budget costs of £1,210 to Miss X if she chose this option. The Council based this on what Miss X should have received had it made its decision at the point Miss X asked for help.
23. The Council has already apologised to Miss X for the additional stress which she has been caused and has completed service improvements following the previous investigation. As such, I have not made a further recommendation for this.

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Action

24. Within one month of a final decision, the Council should:

• Pay Miss X £1,210 to recognise the costs she unnecessarily incurred. This is calculated from the Council’s offer of a backdated personal transport budget.
• Pay Miss X £250 to recognise the distress caused to her.

25. The Council should provide us with evidence it has complied with the above actions.

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Decision

26. I find fault causing injustice.

Investigator’s decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman