Summary: There is no evidence fault by the Council affected its decision not to award free school transport to Mrs X.

The complaint

1. The complainant, Mrs X, complained the Council:
• misled her about which was the closest catchment school; and
• failed to consider her son’s circumstances when refusing her application for school transport.
2. Mrs X says the Council’s actions have caused distress.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. 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)
4. If we are satisfied with an organisation’s actions or proposed actions, we can complete our investigation and issue a decision statement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 30(1B) and 34H(i), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

5. As part of the investigation, I have:
• considered the complaint and Mrs X's comments;
• made enquiries of the Council and considered the comments and documents the Council provided.
6. Mrs X and the organisation had an opportunity to comment on my draft decision. I considered any comments received before making a final decision.

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What I found

Education Act 1996

7. Councils must make suitable home to school travel arrangements for ‘eligible children’ of compulsory school age to attend their ‘qualifying school’. The relevant qualifying school is the nearest school with places available that provides education appropriate to the age, ability and aptitude of the child, and any special educational needs the child may have. (Section 508B and Schedule 35B)
8. ‘Eligible children’ includes children of compulsory school age who live outside ‘statutory walking distance’ from the school. That is two miles for children under eight and 3 miles for children between eight and 16.
9. The Education Act 1996 provides councils with discretionary powers to provide transport for children who are not entitled to free transport. The council can charge for such discretionary arrangements or provide these for free. It is for each council to decide whether and how to apply this discretion.

Government guidance - Travel to school for children of compulsory school age. Statutory guidance for local authorities.

10. All local authorities have a procedure for handling complaints about the services they provide. Parents should be able to complain about the service they have received in relation to travel to school. They should also be able to appeal a decision taken by the local authority about their child’s travel to school.
11. It is for local authorities to determine which matters should be handled as complaints and which should be handled as appeals.

Guidance on the Council's website - entitlement to school travel assistance

12. The Council provides free school transport to pupils between the ages 4 and 16 who:
• attend the nearest, or designated transport area school for their home address
• live over the statutory walking distance from that school (2 miles for children under 8 and 3 miles for children aged 8 and over)
13. If you live within the statutory walking distance of the school it is your parental responsibility to make sure your child attends school.
14. The school 'designated transport area' and the school catchment area can sometimes be different so please don't automatically assume there will be entitlement to travel assistance to your catchment school. Please check by emailing if you are not sure.
15. If a place is allocated at a school which is parentally preferred and which is beyond the statutory walking distance but this school is neither the nearest nor the designated transport area school and at either of which places would have been available at the time of application, then you will be responsible for making your own travel arrangements and for all travel costs in getting your children to school.
16. There are very specific limited circumstances under which free travel assistance can be offered under exceptional circumstances. The categories are as follows:
• critical stage;
• home based issues - death, incapacity, serious illness of a parent;
• exceptional home based issues;
• severe and sustained bullying;
• temporary medical need.
17. If you wish to be considered for your catchment school you must include it as one of your preferences. You can check your school catchment area on a map on the school catchment page. The map is a representation of the catchment areas and cannot be relied upon for purchasing a property. If you are considering purchasing a property or if you live near a school border then please contact the Council.

The Council’s education travel policy

18. Parents can only request an appeal/review with evidence that the policy has not been applied correctly under the following criteria:
• You are not satisfied with the travel arrangements offered to you.
• The school is the nearest suitable school with a place available or is the transport area school for your home address.
• You believe the walking route exceeds the statutory walking distance.
• You consider the walking route to be unsafe for a child accompanied by an adult.
• Your child has medical need or there are other exceptional needs that mean travel assistance is needed. An application must be made under the discretionary Exceptional Needs Policy before a review can be requested on these grounds. Any medical need would need to be evidenced in writing by a medical practitioner.

What happened

19. Mrs X secured a place at school A for her son. Mrs X believed school A was her catchment school. Mrs X later became aware school A was neither the catchment school nor the designated transport area school.
20. Mrs X applied for free school transport for her son in July 2025 as school A is more than three miles from her address. Mrs X explained nobody had told her school A was not the catchment school or designated transport area school. Mrs X said because of work commitments she and her husband could not take their son to school. Mrs X also noted the school bus for school A passed her house every day. Mrs X told the Council her son had special educational needs and it would benefit him to get the bus with his friends as that would help calm him down and calm his anxiety.
21. The Council explained because school A was not Mrs X’s catchment school or designated transport area school her son did not qualify for free school travel. The Council said it did not consider Mrs X’s circumstances qualified as exceptional circumstances. The Council also explained why it could not allow Mrs X to pay for a seat on the bus. The Council told Mrs X in certain circumstances she could seek a review of its decision and provided her with a link to the relevant page on the Council’s website. The Council said if Mrs X did not meet the criteria for a review she could put in a complaint.
22. Mrs X asked for a review because she believed school A was the nearest qualifying school with a place available or was the designated transport area school for her home address.
23. The Council wrote Mrs X to explain she did not qualify for a review under the criteria she had identified. The Council explained that was because school A was not the nearest qualifying school or the designated transport area school with a place available. The Council therefore told Mrs X she could make a complaint. Mrs X put in a complaint. Mrs X explained the confusion about the status of school A and made the following points:
• if her son cannot get the bus this will add another car into already heavy traffic routes while the bus is half empty and goes to the same location;
• she is only one eighth of a mile outside the catchment area;
• she and her husband have work commitments which start early and therefore they rely on the bus to get their son to school;
• she and her husband have changed their jobs because people told them her son could use the school bus;
• it is too late for their son to move to his catchment school as it is full and it would be devastating to their son to move as he has high anxiety and special educational needs (SEN).
24. When responding to the complaint the Council explained the circumstances in which it would provide free school travel assistance. The Council explained the designated transport area school for Mrs X’s home address was school B and the closest school was school C. The Council said it would provide school transport to both those schools as they were more than three miles from Mrs X’s address. However, as school A was neither the designated transport area school or the nearest school Mrs X’s son had no entitlement to travel assistance.
25. The Council referred Mrs X to the information on its website encouraging parents to apply for their catchment school. The Council told Mrs X it could not take responsibility for a misunderstanding about the catchment school for a home address and could not offer a paid seat on the bus due to the accessibility regulations. The Council said Mrs X was welcome to apply for a place at school B.

Analysis

26. Mrs X says the Council misled her about which was the closest school to her address as it told her school A was the closest school.
27. I have no evidence the Council told Mrs X school A was her closest school. Having spoken to Mrs X it also appears it may have been school A, or people living in the area, that told Mrs X school A was her catchment school. As I can only consider the Council’s actions and I have no evidence the Council misled Mrs X I have no grounds to criticise it.
28. I also note the Council’s website has information about transport arrangements and how to identify whether a school is the catchment school. That includes a link where a parent can put in their postcode and identify the catchment school. Having used that link I am satisfied if Mrs X had checked that before she applied for a school she would have identified that school B was her catchment school. Given all that I could not say the Council misled Mrs X.
29. Mrs X says the Council failed to consider the fact her son has special educational needs and the school bus goes past her house when refusing to provide her with free school transport.
30. The evidence I have seen satisfies me the Council turned down Mrs X’s application for free school transport because school A is not the catchment area school or the designated transport area school. As Mrs X accepts that I am satisfied the Council applied its policy correctly when telling Mrs X she was not entitled to free school transport.
31. The only way Mrs X could then secure free school transport for her son is if the Council used its discretion. This is the exceptional circumstances test which I refer to in paragraph 16. I am satisfied the Council, when responding to Mrs X’s application for school transport, made clear its view she did not qualify under exceptional circumstances. Given the information available to the Council at the time I have no grounds to criticise it for reaching that conclusion.
32. I am also satisfied the Council acted properly when telling Mrs X she did not have a right to a review of its decision on the grounds Mrs X had put forward. That is because Mrs X’s grounds related to her belief that school A was her catchment area school. The Council had already made clear this was wrong. In those circumstances under the Council’s review procedure Mrs X did not have the right to an appeal.
33. I am satisfied though the Council considered Mrs X’s representations about the decision to refuse free school transport under its complaints procedure. The Council did not refer in the complaint response to Mrs X son’s special educational needs. Nor did the Council refer in the complaint response to the point Mrs X raised about the school bus going past her house. Instead, the Council relied on the fact Mrs X did not qualify for free school transport under its policy.
34. I would have expected the Council to address the issues Mrs X raised when responding to her complaint. Failure to do that is fault. However, local Councillors and the MP have also made representations to Council officers on Mrs X’s behalf. The Council has made clear in its responses it does not consider Mrs X has exceptional circumstances, recognising the school bus goes past her house. I am therefore satisfied the Council has considered Mrs X’s representations when deciding not to award free school transport. I therefore do not consider it likely if the Council had addressed those points in its complaint response it would have made a different decision. So, while I consider it fault not to address those points in the complaint response I do not consider that affected the Council’s decision to refuse free school transport. I therefore cannot recommend a remedy for Mrs X.

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Final decision

35. I find fault not causing injustice.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman