Summary: We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint about a school transport appeal. The complaint is late and there is no good reason to investigate it now.

The complaint

1. Mrs X said the Council failed to give sufficient notice of its decision to withdraw free home to school transport for her child and the Council failed to consider her appeal properly.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
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. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

4. I considered information provided by the complainant.
5. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

6. The Council stage 1 response to Mrs X’s appeal against the withdrawal of free school transport is dated 25 August 2023. She has confirmed she did not exercise her right to ask for a stage 2 appeal. Mrs X’s complaint to us is dated 1 October 2024. Her complaint is thus late, as the last of the matters she complained of dated from more than 12 months before she approached us. We will only investigate complaints about matters more than 12 months old if a person was unaware of them at the time or prevented from complaining about them sooner. Neither reason applies here.

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Final decision

7. We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because it is late and there is no good reason to exercise discretion to consider it now.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman