Summary: Mrs X complained about post-16 travel arrangements for her son (Y) to the college named in his Education, Health and Care Plan. She also complained the Council failed to respond to her safeguarding concerns. We found fault with the Council for its failure to make suitable transport arrangements for Y and to respond to Mrs X’s safeguarding concerns. We also found fault with the Council’s complaint handling. The Council’s fault caused injustice to Y and Mrs X. The Council has agreed to apologise, reimburse any trips to the college completed by Y’s parents, respond to Mrs X’s safeguarding concerns and arrange a meeting with the taxi service to discuss Y’s transport needs. The Council has also agreed to consider our complaint handling guidance.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complains about the college transport for her son (Y) who has significant and complex special educational needs. She says the Council failed to ensure:
• transport was arranged for the days Y attended his college and she had to chase it up;
• taxis arrived on time to pick her son up from his house in the morning and his college in the afternoon;
• there was consistency in the taxi drivers’ allocation despite the taxi company undertaking;
• it addressed and responded to safeguarding concerns;
• Y’s parents were notified of transport arrangements in advance and the taxi company provided the adequate level of communication with Mrs X.
2. Mrs X says the Council’s failings with transport impacted Y’s mental health and his readiness to learn. She also says they interfered with her and her husband’s jobs as one of them had to stay at home with Y when his transport was late or they had to arrange for an elderly member of the family who had other caring responsibilities to stay with Y. On a few occasions parents had to provide transport to Y themselves.

Back to top

The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. 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)
4. We investigate complaints about councils and certain other bodies. Where an individual, organisation or private company is providing services on behalf of a council, we can investigate complaints about the actions of these providers. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 24A(1)(A) and 25(7), as amended).
5. We cannot decide if an organisation has breached the Equality Act as this can only be done by the courts. But we can make decisions about whether or not an organisation has properly taken account of an individual’s rights in its treatment of them. 
6. Organisations will often be able to show they have properly taken account of the Equality Act if they have considered the impact their decisions will have on the individuals affected and these decisions can be challenged, reviewed or appealed.
7. 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)
8. Under our information sharing agreement, we will share this report with the Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills (Ofsted).

Back to top

How I considered this complaint

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

Back to top

What I found

Law and guidance

EHC Plan

11. A child or young person with special educational needs may have an Education, Health and Care (EHC) Plan. This document sets out the child’s needs and what arrangements should be made to meet them. The EHC Plan is set out in sections. Section I specifies the name and/or type of educational placement. 
12. The council has a duty to make sure the child or young person receives the special educational provision set out in section F of an EHC Plan (Section 42 Children and Families Act).

Post-16 transport

13. For learners of sixth form age, the Council has a duty to prepare and publish a transport policy statement specifying the arrangements for transport, or otherwise, it considers necessary to facilitate attendance at education or training as set out in s.509AA Education Act 1996 (‘The Act’). S.509AB requires the statement to explicitly set out the arrangements for students with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).
14. Learners who are age 19 but continuing a course started before the age of 19 fall under the sixth-form duty, not the adult duty (s.509AC).
15. The Government has issued statutory guidance ‘Post-16 transport and travel support to education and training’, 2019 (‘the Guidance’). This says the statutory responsibility for transport rests with councils and the intention of the transport duty is to ensure learners can access education or training of their choice and, if support for access is requested, this will be assessed and provided where necessary.

Equality Act 2010

16. A person has a disability if he or she has a physical or mental impairment and this impairment has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on their ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities. (Section 6(1))
17. The Equality Act 2010 requires local authorities to comply with the public sector equality duty. This means they must consider how their school travel decisions and policies affect people with protected characteristics, and must have regard to the need to:
• eliminate discrimination against people with protected characteristics;
• promote equality of opportunity between people who have a protected characteristic and those who do not; and
• foster good relations between people who have a protected characteristic and those who do not.
18. Having due regard to the need to advance equality of opportunity involves having due regard to the need to:
• remove or minimise disadvantages suffered by persons who share a relevant protected characteristic;
• take steps to meet the needs of persons who share a relevant protected characteristic that are different from the needs of persons who do not share it.

What happened

Background

19. Y has complex special educational needs and disabilities, including Global Developmental Delay, Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). He was 18 in June 2025. The Council named a specific mainstream college in Section I of his Education, Health and Care (EHC) Plan (the College), which he started attending in September 2025. Due to his needs Y cannot be left at home on his own.
20. In 2025/2026 Y was preparing for his General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) exams.
21. The Council agreed to provide transport for Y to the College. It commissioned delivery of this service to the taxi company 24x7 (the Taxi service).
22. Y’s parents (Mr and Mrs X) work full time. They have two younger children at school.

Transport

23. Before the start of the autumn term 2025 Mrs X contacted the Taxi service a few times to find out arrangements for Y’s transport to the College. Mr and Mrs X were anxious as the Taxi service did not communicate with them about the details. During the weekend before Y’s first week at the College the Taxi service confirmed it would provide transport for Y but could not secure a regular driver. Following further contact with the Taxi service Mr and Mrs X received a name of the driver and their time of arrival.
24. In the afternoon of the first day in the College Mrs X received a telephone call from a Personal Assistant (PA) who was asking about Y’s description. She had never met Y and did not know how to recognise him.
25. The next morning the taxi arrived 20 minutes late. In the afternoon the journey back took nearly an hour longer than it should.
26. At the beginning of October 2025 Mrs X called the Taxi service in the morning ten minutes after the time Y should have been collected. She found out the driver (Driver 1) came 20 minutes before due time and left when nobody answered her knocking. Driver 1 returned to pick up Y 35 minutes late. As a result of being late to the College Y missed a class outing and was upset.
27. The Taxi service told Mrs X Driver 1 would not provide transport to Y again as it was a safeguarding issue. Mrs X had to remind the Taxi service not to allocate Driver 1 to provide transport to Y.
28. A few days after this incident the Taxi service manager called Mrs X and told her that he would comply with Mrs X’s request and the Taxi service would allocate a specific driver for Y. Mrs X passed this message on to Y, who felt happy and relieved. This, however, did not happen. The following day a different driver turned up and the lack of consistency continued.
29. A week later no driver collected Y in the morning. Mr X called the Taxi service office and was told Y had already been picked up and taken to his college. Mr X took Y to the College himself and was late to work as a result.
30. Two days later the Taxi service picked Y up from his college 30 minutes late. This happened because the driver forgot to bring a PA. The PA called Mrs X to let her know what had happened. Mrs X did not know that person.
31. In October the College communicated its concerns about the impact of Y’s late arrivals for lessons on his learning, confidence and overall wellbeing. The College explained that due to Y’s special educational needs having a calm and consistent start to a day was particularly important for him.
32. From the second week of September to mid-October 2025 the Taxi service:
• seven times arrived late to collect Y from his house in the morning;
• twice arrived late to collect Y from the College in the afternoon;
• on many occasions provided transport with an unfamiliar taxi driver;
• once varied route back home resulting in a longer journey;
• three times a different taxi company provided transport to Y.
33. In its response to my enquiries the Council said:
• it did not carry out any safeguarding investigations for Y;
• the Taxi service recorded Y’s special educational needs and diagnoses on its system;
• the process of arranging transport consisted of:
1. the Council passing on a child’s or young person’s needs to the Taxi service through Portal;
2. the Taxi service setting up transport reflecting the passenger’s needs;
3. arranging an initial meeting with parents to understand the passenger’s individual needs before starting the service;
4. adding to the passenger’s profile any information obtained from the parents;
• any issues with Y’s transport had been resolved at the end of November 2025.
34. Mrs X told us there were still some issues with the consistency of drivers and the timeliness of transport in May 2026.

Complaint

35. At the beginning of September 2025 Mrs X complained about the Taxi service’s failure to arrange transport for Y in advance of the autumn term and to give details of these arrangements to Y’s parents. She also said the Taxi service had failed to consider Y’s need to be prepared for any new arrangements. Mr and Mrs X had already told the Council that Y needed to meet the driver before starting transport.
36. In mid-September 2025 Mrs X raised an official complaint about the lack of consistent transport from the Taxi service.
37. The Council responded at the beginning of October. It upheld Mrs X’s complaint and said:
• it was reviewing all transport complaints received and addressing performance concerns with the Taxi service through daily communication and scheduled contract management meetings;
• performance monitoring would continue. If expected improvements did not happen, the Council would take appropriate action.
38. During a telephone call two weeks later Mrs X raised two safeguarding concerns. The Council’s officer recognised the urgency of Mrs X’s concerns and said somebody would call her within 40 minutes. Mrs X did not receive a phone call and her subsequent calls remained unanswered.
39. On the same day she wrote to the Council. She was not happy with the Council’s complaint response. She also said there had been continuing issues with transport for Y, such as non-consistency of drivers, taxis turning up late or not turning up at all, no response to two safeguarding concerns and no follow-up call to discuss safeguarding despite the officer’s promise to do so.
40. A week later the Council replied it was working closely with the Taxi service to address the issues raised by Mrs X.
41. Mrs X brought her complaint to us at the end of October 2025.

Analysis

Transport

42. Councils are responsible for providing school and college transport to eligible children and young people. They can commission its services but retain responsibility for the delivery and quality of the service.
43. The law differentiates between transport rules for compulsory school age pupils, post-16 young people and young adults. As Y started his college course before he turned 19 the Council rightly arranged transport for him following the rules applicable for transport of post-16 young people. The Council agreed to provide transport for Y to his college.
44. The Council’s process for providing transport services to schools and colleges is set out in paragraph 33 bullet point three of this decision.
45. The Council failed to:
• ensure the Taxi service had all necessary information about Y’s needs. There is no record of the Council telling the Taxi service to update information on Y’s profile after Mrs X had reminded the Council in her complaint that Y needed to know the person who was taking him to the college;
• check whether transport provided to Y reflected his needs. From the beginning of September 2025 Mrs X kept contacting the Council and complaining. There is no evidence the Council contacted the Taxi service to check the arrangements for Y;
• respond to Mrs X’s safeguarding concerns and call her back as promised. In our Guidance notes ‘Principles of good administrative Practice’ we say that to provide citizen-focused services councils should inform people what they can expect and keep to their commitments. This did not happen for Mrs X.
46. When providing transport to Y the Taxi service failed to:
• record all relevant information about Y’s needs on his profile. The only information recorded was Y's diagnoses. Despite information provided by Mrs X the Taxi service did not specify all Y’s needs which were relevant for transport arrangements;
• ensure Y’s transport needs, such as his need for consistency and to know his drivers, were explored and addressed. Any company providing services on behalf of the Council to disabled young people, such as Y, should have due regard to the Equality Act. The Taxi service should have tried to minimise Y’s disadvantages stemming from his disability and take steps to meet his needs (paragraph 18);
• provide a reliable service. It is unacceptable to fail to collect Y or regularly turn up late.
47. The failings identified in the paragraphs above are fault. They caused injustice to Y as he found changes in the arrangements distressing. The uncertainty about transport impacted his wellbeing before he started his college and in the first weeks of the autumn term. Arriving late to the College meant he was less able to engage with learning. On one occasion he missed an outing, which caused him distress. Inconsistency of transport arrangements added an extra challenge for Y at the time of the transition to a new stage of education, which would have been difficult for him anyway.
48. The Council’s fault caused also injustice to Mr and Mrs X. Mrs X spent much time contacting the Taxi service for updates. She was distressed by the impact of the inconsistency of transport arrangements on Y and had to interrupt her work to make telephone calls to the Taxi service office. Mr and Mrs X had to arrange for an elderly member of the family to stay with Y when taxis were late to pick him up. This was very inconvenient. On one occasion when taxi did not turn up Mr X had to take Y to his college and was late to work.

Complaint handling

49. In our Complaint Handling Code we say that where something has gone wrong we would expect an organisation to acknowledge this and set out the actions it has already taken, or intends to take, to put things right. These can include:
• apologising;
• acknowledging where things have gone wrong;
• providing an explanation, assistance or reasons;
• taking action if there has been delay;
• reconsidering or changing a decision;
• amending a record or adding a correction or addendum;
• providing a financial remedy;
• changing policies, procedures or practices.
50. The Council upheld Mrs X’s complaint. The Council’s response, however, was inadequate for the following reasons:
• the response was generic and did not address specific issues raised by Mrs X;
• the Council did not apologise for the transport service failings; and
• the Council failed to offer meaningful personal remedies.
51. The Council’s failure to provide an adequate response to Mrs X’s complaint is fault. It caused her injustice as her distress was increased by the lack of accountability. In addition to the unreliable and inadequate service she received a generic complaint response.

Service improvement

52. The Council told us that from February 2025 the Taxi service had introduced a Performance Improvement Plan. The Council held weekly meetings to monitor the effectiveness of the plan, which aimed to address:
• staff shortages and sickness;
• internal and external communication; and
• inefficiency of the process.
53. In October 2025 the Taxi service reviewed its original Performance Improvement Plan. Although some improvement had been achieved in the last months of the school year 2024/2025, the number of complaints received from the beginning of the new school year in September 2025 showed there were still significant problems. The Council has been continuing regular monitoring meetings with the Taxi service.
54. Currently in other complaints about transport provided by the Taxi service we are recommending some further service improvements which should address failings identified in this investigation.

Back to top

Action

55. When a council commissions or arranges for another organisation to provide services, we treat actions taken by or on behalf of that organisation as actions taken on behalf of the council and in the exercise of the council’s functions. Where we find fault with the actions of the service provider, we can make recommendations to the council alone. Here we have found fault with the Taxi service and make the following recommendations to the Council.
56. To remedy the injustice caused by the faults identified, we recommend the Council complete within four weeks of the final decision the following:
1. apologise to Mrs X and Y for the injustice caused to them by the faults identified. We publish guidance on remedies which sets out our expectations for how organisations should apologise effectively to remedy injustice. The Council should consider this guidance in making the apology we have recommended;
2. pay Mrs X mileage allowance for any mornings and/ or afternoons that the Taxi service 24x7 failed to provide transport to the College and Mr or Mrs X provided transport themselves, this reimbursement should be for the full distance driven by Mr or Mrs X to and from their home on each trip;
3. hold a meeting or a telephone call with Mrs X and the Taxi service 24x7 to discuss Y’s specific needs relevant to any transport arrangements and the way the service arranged by the Council can respond to them. Participants of this meeting/telephone call should also discuss whether any amendments should be made to the Taxi service records held for Y. The Council will send a written summary of the meeting or telephone call to Mrs X and share a copy with the Ombudsman;
4. respond to Mrs X’s safeguarding concerns from the beginning of October 2025. The Council will send us a copy of this response; and
5. pay Mrs X £50 to recognise the distress caused to her by the Council’s failings identified in this investigation.

The Council should provide us with evidence it has complied with the above actions.

57. We publish the Complaint Handling Code which sets out best practice in how councils should deal with complaints. In this case, we found the Council at fault because its complaint response was generic and despite upholding Mrs X’s complaint failed to offer remedies. In order to prevent similar faults from happening in future, the Council should within three months of the final decision consider our guidance and tell us what action(s) it will take to improve the way it deals with complaints.

Back to top

Decision

58. I find fault causing injustice. The Council has accepted my recommendations, so this investigation is at an end.

Back to top

Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman