Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s handling of Mr X’s request for school transport. We cannot consider part of Mr X’s complaint because of an appeal to a tribunal. There are other parts where we could not achieve anything more. It is reasonable for Mr X to complete the Council’s own appeals process if he remains unhappy with the transport offered.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I shall refer to as Mr X, complained about the Council’s handling of his request the Council provide his child (Y) who has an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHC Plan) with free transport to school. Mr X says the Council refused transport because it said Y’s school was not the nearest suitable. Mr X says this meant he had to appeal to the Tribunal. Mr X says that even after a successful appeal, the Council refused his request. Transport was then agreed but it was unsuitable. The transport was then amended but the Council has only offered it from one address. This is a problem as Y spends time at Mr X’s address as well as their mother’s.

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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:

• we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation, or
• further investigation would not lead to a different outcome, or
• we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants, or
• it would be reasonable for the person to ask for a council review or appeal; or
• there is no worthwhile outcome achievable by our investigation.

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

3. We cannot investigate a complaint if someone has appealed to a tribunal about the same matter. We also cannot investigate a complaint if in doing so we would overlap with the role of a tribunal to decide something which has been or could have been referred to it to resolve using its own powers. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(a), as amended)
4. The First-tier Tribunal (Special Educational Needs and Disability) considers appeals against council decisions regarding special educational needs. We refer to it as the Tribunal in this decision statement.

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

7. We will not start an investigation into Mr X’s complaint.
8. The Council’s original refusal was linked to the school named in Y’s EHC Plan. Mr X challenged this via the Tribunal. It is the mechanism set up by Parliament for parents to challenge such decisions. When a parent has appealed to the Tribunal, we have no powers to consider the matter appealed or any related matters – which in this case includes the decision not to provide transport.
9. Once the appeal had been decided we can consider the Council’s actions. I note it initially refused a request for transport as the relevant team was not aware of the successful appeal. The Council apologised for this and arranged transport which Mr X says was not suitable. The type of transport offered was then amended. We will not consider these points further as we could not achieve anything more.
10. Mr X remains unhappy because transport has only been arranged from one address. The Council has responded at the first stage of its appeals process. If Mr X wants to challenge the Council’s decision, he should ask for a stage 2 appeal. If Mr X was unhappy with the outcome he could make a fresh complaint to the Ombudsman.

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Final decision

11. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint. Some of it is outside our jurisdiction because of an appeal to the Tribunal, while we could not achieve a worthwhile outcome by considering other parts of the complaint. If Mr X wants to challenge the Council’s latest decision, it is reasonable for him to use the Council’s own appeals process.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman