Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council’s decision not to provide a partial refund or pause payments for his child’s Travel Saver bus pass. This is because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council to warrant an investigation.

The complaint

1. The complainant, Mr X, complains the Council refused his request for a partial refund or temporary hold on payments for his child’s Travel Saver bus pass for the two months his child was unable to use the pass due to injury.

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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 effect 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 an investigation if we decide the tests set out in our Assessment Code are not met. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)
3. We do not start 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))
4. We investigate complaints of injustice caused by ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. I have used the word fault to refer to these. We consider whether there was fault in the way an organisation made its decision. If there was no fault in how the organisation made its decision, we cannot question the outcome. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

5. I considered information provided by the complainant.
6. I considered the published terms and conditions for the Council’s Travel Saver scheme.
7. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

8. Mr X asked the Council to consider providing him with a partial refund or payment pause for his child’s Travel Saver bus pass which could not be used for 2 months due to injury. The pass had been collected but not yet used. The Council refused Mr X’s request and referred to its terms and conditions in reaching this decision. It also provided additional information about the scheme, which is subsidised, and why its terms and conditions do not make refunds available for passes.
9. The Travel Saver scheme terms and conditions state “Once the Travel Saver has been collected by the pass holder/eligible person/parent/guardian, it cannot be returned for the refund of any proportion of the application fee. Requests for a refund of the application fee before the pass has been collected can usually be accommodated at Kent County Council’s sole discretion but will incur a £10 administration fee for processing any refund.”
10. Whilst I acknowledge Mr X is dissatisfied with the Council’s decision to refuse his request, there is no sign of fault by the Council here. It has considered and decided Mr X’s request in line with the scheme’s published terms and conditions. We are not an appeal body and it is not our role to question the Council’s decisions where, as here, there is no sign of fault in the way in which the decision was reached. Its decision is one it was entitled to make.

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Final decision

11. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council to warrant an investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman