Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s decision to withdraw the complainant’s child’s education transport and to refuse her subsequent appeal against the decision. There is insufficient evidence of fault on the Council’s part to warrant our intervention.

The complaint

1. The complainant, Mrs X, complains that the Council is at fault in withdrawing her daughter’s entitlement to education transport and in refusing her subsequent appeal against the decision.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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

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

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My assessment

5. Mrs X’s daughter was previously entitled to education transport, which was provided by way of a free bus pass. In 2025 the Council reviewed the entitlement and decided not to award the bus pass for the next school year. Mrs X says this decision is unreasonable and argues that her daughter’s circumstances have not changed.
6. Mrs X used her right to appeal against the Council’s decision and has completed both stages of the Council’s process. When the matter came before the appeal panel, she made submissions and provided evidence in support of her case. The appeal panel did not uphold the appeal. It took the view that the Council had made a reasonable decision and there were no exceptional grounds to warrant departing from it.
7. We will not investigate this complaint because there is insufficient evidence of fault on the Council’s part. It is not for the Ombudsman to take a view on whether Mrs X’s daughter should be provided with school transport. That is for the appeal panel to decide. The question for us is whether there is evidence of significant fault in the way the panel considered the matter and, if so, whether that had a demonstrable effect on the outcome. There is no such evidence.
8. The case documents show that Mrs X had the opportunity to make her case. The weight the panel members gave to the case she made, and that made by the Council, was a matter for their professional judgement. Having considered the evidence, the decision was for them to make.
9. Mrs X disagrees with the panel’s decision but there is no evidence of fault in the way the panel members used their judgement. That being the case, the Ombudsman cannot criticise the decision or intervene to substitute an alternative view.

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Final decision

10. We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because there is insufficient evidence of fault on the Council’s part.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman