Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s failure to send personal travel budget documents to Miss X. This is because an investigation would be unlikely to find fault with the Council’s actions.

The complaint

1. Miss X complained the Council delayed responding to her communication and sending her documents to apply for a personal travel budget on behalf of her child Y.

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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 there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating. (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 Miss X and the Council.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. Miss X asked the Council to provide a personal travel budget so she could arrange transport to school for her child Y, as she was unhappy with the travel assistance package offered.
6. The Council emailed Miss X the personal travel budget documents and told her she must return them with a physical signature. The Council sent Miss X the documents again a few weeks later when she called to chase for an update.
7. The Council again told Miss X she would need to physically sign the documents and offered to send the forms in the post. The Council asked Miss X to get in touch if she did not receive them by a certain date.
8. Miss X complained to the Council because she was unhappy, she had not received the documents. She said the Council delayed responding to her and did not send the documents when she asked for them. The Council did not uphold her complaint. It told her it had sent the documents to Miss X numerous times and responded to her emails promptly but it did not receive the signed forms. The Council told Miss X it would provide a backdated payment for the time Y had been unable to go to school. Miss X referred the complaint to us.
9. The evidence shows the Council has sent the personal travel budget documents several occasions in both digital and postal formats and in prompt response to Miss X asking for them. It was open to Miss X to make use of appropriate resources to enable her to print the documents and return them. The evidence also shows Miss X has allowed several weeks to pass before contacting the Council to discuss the matter. There is no evidence the Council has significantly delayed this process. An investigation would therefore be unlikely to result in a finding of fault.

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Final decision

10. We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint because an investigation would be unlikely to find fault with the Council’s actions.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman