Summary: There was some fault in the way the Council publicised its new home to school transport policy and the way in which this was considered by its Transport Appeal Committee at Mrs X’s appeal. However, this did not cause Mrs X a significant injustice as she was aware of the Council’s new policy and that the school applied for was not the nearest school for school transport purposes. The Council has agreed to take action to improve its communication of the new policy to prevent others being affected by the same fault.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complained about the decision not to provide her child with free transport to the catchment school in 2025, following a change in the Council’s home to school transport policy. Mrs X says the Council failed to clearly publicise the change or to explain that paid transport to the catchment school would not necessarily be available as an alternative means of getting there. This has caused her uncertainty and frustration.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word fault to refer to these. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint. I refer to this as ‘injustice’. If there has been fault which has caused significant injustice, or that could cause injustice to others in the future we may suggest a remedy. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26(1) and 26A(1), as amended)
3. 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. When considering complaints we make findings based on the balance of probabilities. This means that we look at the available relevant evidence and decide what was more likely to have happened.
5. 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(1), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

6. I considered evidence provided by Mrs X and the Council as well as relevant law, policy and guidance.
7. I gave Mrs X and the Council an opportunity to comment on a draft of my decision. I considered any comments before making a final decision.

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What I found

Relevant law and guidance

8. Local authorities must make suitable home to school travel arrangements as they consider necessary for ‘eligible children’ of compulsory school age to attend their ‘qualifying school’. The travel arrangements must be made and provided free of charge. 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. ‘Eligible children’ includes children living outside ‘statutory walking distance’ from the school (two miles for children under eight, three miles for children aged eight and above).
9. Councils should have an appeals process in place for parents who wish to appeal about the eligibility of their child for travel support.
10. The statutory guidance recommends councils adopt the following appeals process:

• Stage 1: review by a senior officer. Within 20 working days of receiving a parent’s written request to appeal the decision, a senior officer reviews the original decision and sends the parent a detailed written notification of the outcome of the review setting out the nature of the decision, how the review was conducted, what was taken into account, the rationale for the decision reached, and how to escalate their case to stage 2; and
• Stage 2: review by independent appeal panel. Within 40 working days of receipt of the parent’s request to escalate to stage 2, an independent appeal panel considers written and verbal representations. Within five working days following this, a detailed decision is sent setting out: the nature of the decision reached; how the review was conducted; what factors were considered; the rationale for the decision reached; and information about appealing to us. (Department of Education, Travel to school for children of compulsory school age statutory guidance 2023, Part 5)

11. The statutory code of guidance sets out that:
• The statutory walking distances are used to determine whether a child is eligible for free travel to school. This is not necessarily the shortest distance by road. The route may include footpaths, bridleways, other pathways and alternative entrances to the school.
• Where the schools are beyond walking distance, councils may consider it more appropriate to measure the shortest road route or the straight line distance. It should be made clear in the council’s school travel policy how the route will be measured.
• It should be clear to parents how they can find out which is their nearest school for admissions purposes and which is the nearest for free school transport purposes.
• A child will not normally be eligible solely because their parent’s work commitments or caring responsibilities mean they are unable to accompany their child themselves, but councils must act reasonably in the performance of their functions.
• Councils must publish their travel policy on their website and include information about their school travel policy in their composite prospectus for school admissions.
12. The guidance says an effective school travel policy will:
• Be easy for parents to find on the council’s website;
• Be clearly written so that parents may easily understand it;
• Enable parents to understand the circumstances in which a child is eligible for free travel to school;
• Tell parents how and when they should apply for free travel to school; and
• Tell parents how they may appeal against the council’s decision in relation to travel to school for their child.

The Council’s home to school travel policy

13. The Council operates catchment areas for admission to some of the schools in its area. This means those living in a certain geographical area get priority if a school is oversubscribed. Until 2024 the Council provided school transport to the catchment area school or to the nearest school for those living over three miles away.
14. In September 2024 the Council implemented a new Home To School Travel Policy. Under the new policy the Council only provides free transport to new applicants attending the nearest qualifying school to home. This meant certain towns and villages no longer qualified for transport to a catchment school and the nearest qualifying school may be in another council’s area.
15. The policy explained the nearest suitable school for school travel purposes may not be the catchment school used for admissions purposes. It said:
• ‘When deciding on eligibility for assistance with transport, the measurement from home to school will be taken from the fixed point within the property to the nearest entrance point (not always the main entrance) to the school following the nearest available walked route, as defined by the Council’s Geographical Information System (GIS)’.
• ‘Parents have the right to preference any school of their choice when applying for a school place, they do not however have a right to free-of-charge travel arrangements to that school. Travel eligibility will be assessed in line with the eligibility criteria in this policy. If the nearest school is undersubscribed with places available, then it will be the nearest suitable school for travel purposes, and free travel would not be provided to an alternative school that is further away’.
• ‘If the nearest school is fully subscribed without places available, then the Council will need to assess if the child could have secured a place had one been applied for. This will be done by comparing the child with the last child to be offered a place at the school and determining which of them would have higher priority. This will often be a straightforward matter of determining which child lives closest to the school’.
16. In relation to discretionary arrangements, the policy states that where there is capacity in existing dedicated transport services provided for eligible children, it may be possible for spare seats to be purchased by parents/carers- applications are made through the Council website.
17. The Council operates a two stage appeal procedure: a stage one review by a senior officer and a stage two appeal heard by the Council’s school transport appeals committee (a small group of elected councillors). The policy states that the committee considers the policy guidelines but may recommend departure from those guidelines in exceptional cases.

Paid travel permits

18. The Council’s website sets out that pupils and students can apply for a paid travel permit if they are not eligible for free school transport. Under ‘paid travel permit terms and conditions’ it explains that paid travel can be withdrawn at any time by the Council’s discretion by giving one week’s notice. This includes when the journey becomes solely used by paid travel permit holders, the allocated seat is required for a pupil eligible for free home to school transport or if a reduction in vehicle capacity is required during the academic year.

Publication of the new home to school transport policy

19. The Council carried out public consultation regarding the new policy in early 2024 including webinars and face to face events in March 2024. The Council agreed the policy at its executive meeting in July 2024.
20. In early September 2024, the Council sent an email to schools with a request that it be forwarded to parents of those due to start secondary school in September 2025 about the secondary school admission process. The email included one line which said ‘there have been some changes in eligibility to home to school transport, so if this is an important factor when choosing a school please go to: [weblink]. Here you can use the online tool to find your nearest school to your home address’.
21. The link went to the Council’s School Transport page which contained two separate links to the policy, one of which linked to the 2019 policy instead of the new policy. The Council corrected this error in March 2025. The Council’s school transport page also included a distance calculator which would list the nearest schools to home.
22. In September 2024 the Council also sent schools via its weekly email under the ‘information, updates and guidance’ section ‘a request that the information attached is made available to parents as part of secondary open evenings’. The attached information was a slide presentation which set out that the revised home to school travel policy was being implemented and ‘the main eligibility criteria for eligible pupils is for travel to their nearest suitable school with places available’.
23. The Council’s website for starting secondary school included a link to the September 2024 home to school transport policy. A line on the website page said ‘we provide free school transport to the nearest school to your home if it is over the required walking distance’.
24. The application disclaimer also said, ‘Please note if you apply for and are allocated a school which is not your nearest suitable school with places available you will be responsible for getting your child to school’.

What happened

25. In the normal admissions round Mrs X successfully applied for her child to attend her local catchment area school, school B from September 2025. In May 2025 she received a letter advising her that Y did not qualify for free home to school transport as school B was not the nearest suitable school.
26. In June 2025, Mrs X requested a stage one review of the Council’s decision. She said they were ‘vaguely aware - through a brief message from our child’s primary school - that there might be a change in policy around transport eligibility’. Mrs X said when she found out the cost of a paid travel pass, she contacted the nearest school and was told it was full. She explained she and Mr X worked full time and could not transport Y to school. The Council responded the following month but did not agree the appeal. It said:
• It had applied the policy correctly.
• School B was not the nearest but there was a nearer school in a neighbouring council area.
• The Education Act 1916 and statutory guidance issued by the Department of Education advised that a council is not required to take work arrangements into account when assessing eligibility for home to school transport.
• The changes to the policy were widely publicised.
• Had Mrs X applied to the nearest school in the normal admissions round, Y would have been offered a place.
27. Mrs X submitted a request to go to the second stage of the appeals procedure in late July 2025. Her appeal included that school B’s website still wrongly stated that the Council provided transport for catchment area pupils and poor communication of the new policy. She explained the family’s work commitments and the difficulty providing transport. Mrs X also provided letters of support from local councillors.
28. The Council heard the appeal in early September 2025. The report to the committee stated ‘The changes to the Council’s Home to School Transport Policy were widely publicised via a variety of means. The policy change has been widely reported in the media and on the Council’s website alongside the admissions applications process’. It also said that the Council was not required to take work arrangements into account when assessing eligibility for free home to school transport.
29. Mrs X attended with a local councillor as her representative. Mrs X says her representative was told they could not ask questions, but the notes show they were able to sum up on Mrs X’s behalf.
30. The clerk’s notes of the hearing record Mrs X raised her concerns about communication of the new policy. The Council’s presenting officer acknowledged the concerns but said there were points where it was clear that if transport was important to the family, that they should consider the nearest school and there was a nearest school calculator parents could use. They also said that there were three occasions in the application process which advised applicants to be aware of the transport policy if it was important to them. The committee asked about this and that parents had to sign that they had read it, which the presenting officer confirmed.
31. Mrs X said she was not aware that because of the changes there may be no bus at all. Although she had successfully got a paid pass for her child, this could be removed at any time. If it was, she would have no choice but to reduce her working hours. Had they known this they would have applied for the nearest school. The committee asked Mrs X if she had used the nearest school calculator and she confirmed she had and knew there was a nearer school.
32. Mrs X’s representative summarised their concerns and advised the committee it had discretion as to whether it took into account work commitments as exceptional circumstances.
33. The committee decided the policy was correctly applied. It summarised the case and noted ‘there is a responsibility on parents to ensure they have read all the information on the Council’s website in relation to school admissions and home to school transport before making an application for a school place, particularly if transport is an essential part of the decision’. It noted the parents’ work commitments but said there were not sufficient exceptional circumstances. The committee did not uphold the appeal.
34. Mrs X remained unhappy and complained to the Ombudsman.
35. Regarding representatives, in response to our enquiries the Council explained that those attending can bring someone to provide support through the appeals process. It said in some previous hearings the representative dominated proceedings and raised issues not relevant to the appeal focusing on the Council’s development of the policy and its legality. To ensure appeals focused on the appellant the chair requested supporters, once they had made their statement, directed any further points or questions through the appellant.

Findings

The change in policy

36. We expect councils to explain their policies clearly to enable parents to make informed decisions when applying for schools about whether their child might be eligible for school transport. The evidence shows the Council consulted widely on the new policy but there was fault in the way it was communicated. The Council’s website wrongly linked to the old policy which was fault.
37. The Council’s new policy is a significant change from its previous one. In particular, free transport is no longer automatically provided to catchment area schools over three miles away. The Council’s website referred to transport being provided to the nearest suitable school, but we would not expect parents to be experts in the subtlety of language used in Government guidance and what is meant by suitable school. A parent may wrongly assume the catchment school is the nearest suitable school. It is only within the transport policy itself that the Council states ‘the nearest qualifying school for school travel purposes may not be the catchment school used for admissions purposes’. The Council did not clearly spell out on its website or admissions form that transport would not automatically be provided to the catchment school if it was over three miles away.
38. Although the Council circulated information to all schools, this was in the ‘information, updates and guidance’ section and not in the ‘for action’ section of the email. It asked secondary schools to make parents aware there were policy changes but did not ask primary schools to highlight the changes to year 6 parents who would be applying for secondary school. The attached presentation slides emphasised free transport would be provided to the nearest suitable school but as set out above did not clearly set out that this was not necessarily the catchment school.
39. On balance, this poor communication is fault.
40. I have recommended the Council takes action to prevent a recurrence of this fault and any potential injustice arising from it in future.

Mrs X’s appeal

41. The Ombudsman is not an appeal body. This means we do not take a second look at a council’s decision to decide if it was wrong. Instead, we look at the processes it followed to make its decision. If we consider it followed those processes correctly, the law says we cannot question whether the decision was right or wrong, regardless of whether someone disagrees with the decision it made.
42. The notes of the appeal hearing note the committee considered it was the parent’s responsibility to ensure they have read the information on the Council’s website. However, the committee made no comment on the point Mrs X raised that the Council’s website wrongly had a link to the old policy. There is no evidence the committee properly considered the impact on Mrs X of how the new policy was communicated or that the website had a link to the old policy. This was fault. It was for the committee to decide what, if any, impact this may have had on the original school admission application and school transport appeal.
43. At stage one and stage two of the appeal the Council said it could not take account of parents’ work commitments. This was wrong and is fault. The guidance sets out that a child will not normally be eligible solely because of work commitments, not that they could not be considered. In this case, Mrs X’s representative pointed this out to the transport appeals committee. In its deliberations it said it did not consider the work commitments exceptional enough circumstances to grant the appeal. So the fault did not cause a significant injustice. However, I have recommended a service improvement to prevent recurrence of the fault.
44. The records show the committee took into account Mrs X’s personal circumstances and decided not to uphold the appeal. There was no fault in the way it reached this decision.
45. However, but for the fault I cannot say on balance that Mrs X would have applied to another school. Mrs X confirmed at the appeal that she had used the nearest school checker and when I discussed the complaint with her, she confirmed she was aware of the policy and that school B was not the nearest school. Therefore, despite the fault I found with the Council’s communication and the appeal committee’s failure to come to a view on the Council’s error, it did not cause Mrs X a significant disadvantage.
46. Y currently has a paid bus pass, as there is a spare seat on the bus to their school. Mrs X’s concerns are focused on what may happen in future if the bus no longer operates as the number eligible for free passes decreases. Mrs X said if she had known there may not be a bus in future the application for a school place would have been different.
47. We investigate complaints of injustice arising from fault. Ms X’s concerns about what may happen with the bus in future is speculative injustice which has not yet happened. We cannot take into account what may happen in future. The Council is entitled to offer paid seats on transport where there is space available. It has no responsibility to ensure a bus or transport service exists to a school for those pupils where it does not have a statutory duty to provide transport. The Council’s website explains the terms and conditions for paid bus passes. The Council was not at fault.
48. Mrs X was also unhappy her representative was not allowed to ask questions when representatives were able to at earlier appeals. The Council has explained why, following earlier appeals, it restricted the ability of representatives to ask questions directly. Mrs X was allowed to attend with a representative, and the representative was able to ask questions through Mrs X. Although this may have been frustrating for Mrs X this was a decision the Council was entitled to make and was not fault. In addition, it did not place Mrs X at a substantial disadvantage.

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Agreed action

49. Within one month of the final decision the Council should:
1. review its online communication to ensure it clearly sets out that school transport will no longer be provided to the catchment area school unless it is the nearest suitable school over three miles away. The nearest suitable school may also be in another council’s area.
2. Revise its guidance to staff and appeal committee members to bring it in line with the statutory guidance regarding the consideration of work commitments in home to school transport applications and appeals. Particularly, that it is not that these cannot be considered but that they would not normally be the sole reason to award transport.

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Decision

50. I find fault not causing injustice. The Council has agreed to service improvements to help prevent recurrence of the faults in future.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman