Summary: The Council has agreed to provide a bus pass for Ms M’s son. This resolves Ms M’s complaint. There is no worthwhile outcome achievable by further investigation.

The complaint

1. Ms M complained about school transport. She complained the Council declined her application for a bus pass for her son and refused to hear her appeal because it was late.

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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 no worthwhile outcome achievable by our investigation. (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 Ms M and the Council.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. Ms M assumed her son would get a free bus pass because his sister and other children in the village going to the same school had them. However, her application was unsuccessful and the Council refused to hear her appeal because it was late. Unhappy with the outcome, Ms M complained to us.
6. We considered the case carefully. It seemed clear to us the Council had provided other children with a bus pass because there was no safe walking route to the school.
7. We have not seen Ms M’s application, and the Council did not consider her appeal. We make no judgement about the Council’s handling of these matters.
8. However, since the Council appeared to be providing a bus pass for Ms M’s daughter because it was not safe for her to walk to school, it seemed very likely we would be critical of the Council if it did not provide Ms M’s son a bus pass to the same school at the same time if we were to investigate the complaint. I outlined my concerns to the Council and invited the Council to comment.
9. To its credit, the Council responded straight away and said it would offer a bus pass for Ms M’s son. This is a good outcome and a proportionate remedy.
10. There is, therefore, no worthwhile outcome achievable by further investigation.

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Final decision

11. We have upheld Ms M’s complaint because the Council has agreed to resolve the complaint by providing a bus pass for Ms M’s son. This is a proportionate remedy. We will not investigate the complaint because there is no worthwhile outcome achievable by further investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman