Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s delay in providing information about transport assistance and dealing with Mrs X’s complaint. Mrs X’s son is not entitled to school transport, and she can still appeal this decision or apply to a bursary fund. Therefore, we do not consider Mrs X has suffered sufficient injustice currently to warrant an investigation.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complains the Council has provided unclear and confusing information about whether her son, C, is entitled to transport assistance to attend college.

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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
• we could not add to any previous investigation by the organization.

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

5. C has an Education Health and Care (EHC) Plan and attends college. He has been catching the train since he started college.
6. In September the Council sent Mrs X a copy of C’s EHC plan and asked her to see the further information provided about transport assistance. She completed the provided document and returned it to the Council. However, the Council has accepted this was not an application form and it sent it to her in error.
7. Mrs X complains she did not hear anything further from the Council to clarify whether her son was entitled or to explain it would not be considering the form as an application for transport.
8. The Council responded to Mrs X’s complaint in March. It apologised for the confusion around the information provided and confirmed that C would not be eligible for transport assistance. It advised it could only provide subsidised travel for the bus network. The Council told Mrs X she could appeal and the process to do so, but she has, at this time, chosen not to appeal the decision.
9. It also explained about a possible bursary which could provide travel assistance. It said this would be run by the college and she must contact them directly about this.
10. We will not investigate this complaint. While I appreciate the delays were frustrating for Mrs X the Council has apologised for the delay. We would be unlikely to offer any additional remedy for this accepted fault. And, at this time, C is not entitled to transport assistance. As such there is insufficient remaining injustice to warrant our investigation.

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Final decision

11. We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because we believe her injustice to be insufficient to warrant investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman