Summary: We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint about the Council’s refusal to provide free school transport for her child. There is not enough evidence of fault by the Council to justify investigating.

The complaint

1. Miss X complains about the Council’s refusal to provide free school transport for her child following her applications in 2023 and 2024. Miss X appealed the refusal in 2023 unsuccessfully.

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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 has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended)
4. 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. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
5. 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

6. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
7. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

8. Miss X’s appeal for free school transport was refused in August 2023. I will not investigate any complaints about matters concerning this appeal. This part of Miss X’s complaint is late and there are no good reasons why she could not have complained to us sooner.
9. Miss X made a repeat application in 2024. The Council responded to explain it had already considered and refused Miss X’s application in 2023. It did not uphold her appeal and it had referred her to the Ombudsman at the time. Therefore, it would not respond further.
10. The Council gave clear reasons for its decision to refuse further consideration of the same application. There is not enough evidence of fault in its decision making to justify an investigation.

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Final decision

11. We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint because there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman