Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about personal travel budgets. We are unlikely to find fault with the Council for changing its policy, and we cannot achieve what Mrs X is looking for. Nor will we look at a complaint about the Council’s earlier decision on this, because a complaint about that is late. There are no good reasons why a complaint about the Council’s previous position on the issue could not have been made in time.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complains the Council has introduced personal travel budgets (PTBs) for eligible applicants. This is despite the Council telling Mrs X, in 2021, that it could not provide a PTB for her child and that it had no intention of introducing PTBs. Mrs X says the Council’s position cost her family in time and money, and she wants it now to pay backdated compensation, for an earlier period now the Council has changed its position.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
3. We cannot investigate late complaints unless we decide there are good reasons. Late complaints are when someone takes more than 12 months to complain to us about something a Council has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended)
4. 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 not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating or we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

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How I considered this complaint

5. I considered information provided by Mrs X.
6. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

7. Mrs X was informed of the Council’s position in 2021, when it set out it did not have PTBs and that it had no intention of introducing PTBs. Mrs X could have brought a complaint to us about that position then, if she was unhappy about that and there is no good reason for us to investigate it now. So, the restriction in paragraph three applies and we cannot investigate the Council’s earlier position or decision making.
8. In 2025, the Council introduced a policy relating to access to PTBs for relevant applicants. Mrs X’s child had stopped receiving related provision before the policy was introduced.
9. We will not investigate this complaint. Mrs X wants the Council to provide a back dated award as though its current policy were in force for the period her child may have been eligible. We cannot achieve that outcome for her.
10. Additionally, four years intervened before the Council changed its position on the issue. The Council’s complaint response acknowledges its position had changed. We are unlikely to find fault with the Council for changing its position after such a period. So, we will not investigate this complaint.

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Final decision

11. We will not investigate Mrs X complaint because we will not investigate the Council’s earlier policy position because that is a late complaint and we are unlikely to find fault with the Council for changing its policy. Nor can we achieve what Mrs X is looking for.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman