Summary: We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint about home to school transport costs. There are no good reasons to investigate events before March 2023. We cannot investigate issues a Tribunal has considered. And we are unlikely to achieve more than the reimbursement already given.

The complaint

1. Miss X says the Council delayed in paying her the cost of home to school transport.

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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:

• any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement; or
• further investigation would not lead to a different outcome; or
• we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

3. We cannot investigate late complaints unless we decide there are good reasons. Late complaints are when someone takes more than 12 months to complain to us about something a council has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended).
4. We cannot investigate a complaint if someone has appealed to a tribunal about the same matter. We also cannot investigate a complaint if in doing so we would overlap with the role of a tribunal to decide something which has been or could have been referred to it to resolve using its own powers. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(a), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

7. Miss X’s child, Y, has additional needs. Miss X says Y was not able to attend mainstream school. The Council assessed Y for an Education Health and Care Plan (EHC Plan). It issued this EHC Plan at the end of March 2023. Miss X appealed. She disagreed with the provision the Council believed was suitable.
8. Miss X says she had to pay for home to school transport before the Council issued its EHC Plan. She says she took Y to alternative placements. The Council says it does not have to pay for this transport as Y was not attending their nearest suitable school.
9. The Council agreed to pay back Miss X the cost of home to school transport from June 2023 to May 24. During that period, it refused to pay for the transport. It said Miss X was taking Y to alternative provisions, not set out in the EHC Plan. But the Council later agreed to do so.
10. Miss X complained in September 2024. The Council agreed to the reimbursement which Miss X has confirmed she received. The Council set up regular payments for continuing costs. When Miss X complained to us these payments were not working properly. Miss X has confirmed they are now.

Analysis

11. We will not investigate the period before the EHC Plan issued in March 2023. This is more than 12 months before Miss X complained to us and there are no good reasons she could not have complained sooner.
12. We will not investigate the delays in paying back the costs from June 2023 onwards. Whether Y should have been attending the locations Miss X was transporting them to, was part of the Tribunal appeal, which means we cannot investigate this. Also, there is nothing significantly more we would achieve than the reimbursement.

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Final decision

13. We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint because there are no good reasons to investigate events before March 2023. And we cannot investigate issues a Tribunal has considered. We are unlikely to achieve more than the reimbursement already given.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman