Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about changes to home to school transport. 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 changes to her child’s home to school transport. Mrs X is unhappy the Council has replaced a dedicated school bus with a public service. Mrs X is unhappy about a lack of seatbelts on the bus and the driver not being DBS checked. Mrs X is unhappy with the timings of the service and says the public bus will not wait like a school bus. Mrs X is unhappy some children living close by continue to travel by dedicated school bus. Mrs X says the bus is often late.

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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 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, or
• we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation, or
• further investigation would not lead to a different outcome, or
• we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants, or
• there is another body better placed to consider this complaint, or
• there is no worthwhile outcome achievable by our investigation.

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

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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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My assessment

5. We will not start an investigation into Mrs X’s complaint.
6. The Government has published statutory guidance on home to school transport. This sets out the law and what councils should and must do. The Guidance states:
• It is for councils to decide how they will arrange free school transport. For example, they might provide a pass or travel on a public service bus or arrange a dedicated service bus.
• Door to door transport will often not be necessary with children able to walk to a suitable pick-up point, accompanied by their parent if necessary.
• Buses designed for urban use with standing passengers (typically used as public service buses) do not have seatbelts fitted and may also be used for travel to school.
• From a health and safety perspective it is for councils to decide what is reasonably practicable to protect their employees and others from harm. This includes whether risk assessments are necessary.
• Enhanced DBS checks should be carried out for drivers of dedicated school transport – these are services which members of the public cannot board.
7. The issues at the heart of Mrs X’s complaint are therefore linked to decisions which are for the Council – not the Ombudsman. In its response to Mrs X’s complaint the Council explained the reasons for using more public transport to take children to school. It is not our role to say how councils should use their limited resources. Because the Council is not failing to follow the law or its own policies, we cannot criticise its use of public buses for home to school transport.
8. Mrs X says that since the service was introduced there have been issues with its timeliness. There can often be issues with transport at the start of term. Operational issues such as these are, however, best dealt with directly by the Council. We will not therefore consider them.

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Final decision

9. We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because there is not enough evidence of fault.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman