Summary: We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint about the Council’s decision not to provide free home to school transport for her child. This is because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council to warrant an investigation.

The complaint

1. The complainant, Miss X, complains about the Council’s decision to refuse her application for free home to school transport for her child.

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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 and the Council.
6. I considered the Council’s School Travel Assistance Policy.
7. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

8. Miss X applied for free home to school transport for her child following a school move. The Council refused the application because the new school was not the nearest suitable school nor the catchment school. The school Miss X’s child attended before the move was the nearest suitable school.
9. Miss X requested a review of the Council’s decision and provided additional information on the circumstances around the decision to move schools.
10. The Council considered the information Miss X provided but upheld its decision to refuse the application in line with the published policy. This states that in order to be eligible for travel assistance all the following criteria must be met:
• live within the boundaries of Cambridgeshire Local Authority; and
• be registered at their nearest suitable school; and
• that school is more than 2 miles from their home, by the shortest available walking route.
11. It explained that as the school Miss X moved her child to is not the nearest school nor the catchment school, and the decision to change school was one of parental preference, Miss X is responsible for arranging and funding transport.
12. Miss X submitted a stage two appeal. The decision was again maintained. It explained that whilst it considered Miss X’s circumstances it decided they were not sufficiently exceptional to justify agreeing the application outside of the Council’s published policy.
13. We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint. This is because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council here to warrant an investigation. It considered and decided the application in line with its policy. It considered the information Miss X provided but decided not to allow the application outside of the policy. This is a decision it was entitled to make.
14. We are not an appeal body. This means we do not take a second look at a decision to decide if it was wrong. Instead, we look at the processes an organisation followed to make its decision. If we consider it followed those processes correctly, we cannot question whether the decision was right or wrong, regardless of whether a complainant disagrees with it.

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Final decision

15. We will not investigate Miss 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