Surrey County Council (24 009 917)

Category : Education > School transport

Decision : Closed after initial enquiries

Decision date : 21 Nov 2024

The Ombudsman's final decision:

Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council’s decision not to provide his daughter with post-16 transport to school. The Council has now agreed to provide transport for the rest of the academic year. An investigation could not achieve anything more at the current time.

The complaint

  1. The complainant, Mr X, complained the Council had refused to provide his daughter with post-16 transport to school. Mr X’s daughter has special educational needs. The Council had decided she did not qualify for support with transport.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

  1. 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:
  • we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation, or
  • further investigation would not lead to a different outcome, or
  • it would be reasonable for the person to ask for a council review or appeal; 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

  1. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
  2. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

  1. We will not start an investigation into Mr X’s complaint.
  2. The Council has said because of an error in how it dealt with Mr X’s case it will provide his daughter with transport for the rest of the academic year. If Mr X wants this to continue, he will need to reapply next year. An investigation by the Ombudsman could not achieve anything further at the current time. If Mr X does reapply and is unhappy with the Council’s response, he can pursue a further appeal and return to the Ombudsman.

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Final decision

  1. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because an investigation could not achieve anything more at the current time.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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