Summary: Mrs X complained about the Council’s consideration of her application and appeals for post-16 school transport assistance for her son. The Council was at fault. It failed to appropriately explain its rationale in its stage two appeal decision letter. As a result, Mrs X suffered distress and uncertainty. The Council will apologise to Mrs X, make a symbolic payment, and issue staff guidance.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complains the Council has wrongly refused her application and subsequent appeals for post-16 home to school transport assistance for her son, who I will refer to as Y. She complains the Council did not properly consider Y’s circumstances, and she believes he was entitled to transport assistance.
2. Mrs X says the lack of transport assistance has placed pressure on the family, caused frustration, and she also lost her employment. She would like improvements to be made to prevent similar failings in future.

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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 future we may recommend a remedy. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26(1) and 26A(1), as amended)
4. 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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What I have investigated

5. I have investigated matters in this case from mid-May 2025 when Mrs X made her application to the Council for Y’s home to school transport assistance, to mid-August 2025 when the Council sent Mrs X its stage two appeal decision.

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How I considered this complaint

6. I read Mrs X’s complaint and spoke to her about it on the phone.
7. I considered evidence provided by Mrs X and the Council as well as relevant law, policy and guidance.
8. Mrs X and the Council had an opportunity to comment on my draft decision. I considered any comments before making a final decision.

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What I found

Post-16 transport

9. There is no requirement for councils to provide free or subsidised post-16 travel support. The law imposes a duty to publish a transport policy statement setting out the transport arrangements they consider it necessary to facilitate attendance at education or training. The policy must include transport arrangements for young people of sixth form age and those between 19 and 25 with SEND.

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What happened

10. This is a summary of events outlining key facts and it does not include everything that has happened in this case.
11. Mrs X sent her application for home to school transport assistance for Y, to the Council in mid-May 2025. She applied for support in the form of mileage reimbursement to Y’s school, and for this to start in September 2025. She told the Council Y needed this assistance as he cannot take public transport and he cannot walk alone. She also mentioned Y had received school travel training, but that he did not understand this.
12. The Council sent Mrs X its decision shortly after, refusing her application for transport assistance. It told her:
• The distance from home to Y’s school was within the three-mile safe walking distance for post-16 students.
• Y had received travel training which means with support he is able to access public transport or walk accompanied.
• Mrs X had previously confirmed her husband, or friends have taken Y to and from school during the current school year at the time, indicating they are able to provide the transport assistance Y requires.
• The Council’s policy states it will only consider providing assistance in exceptional circumstances.
13. Mrs X sent a stage one appeal to the Council around the same time. The Council maintained its decision and refused her appeal. It told Mrs X although she appealed on the grounds Y’s needs would make it unsafe for him to access public transport or walk to school unaccompanied, she previously confirmed that she, her husband or friends have transported Y to and from school throughout the year, as well as the previous year. The Council also told Mrs X that Y did not qualify in relation to distance, as the school is less than three miles from their home.
14. Mrs X made a stage two appeal later that month. She told the Council its post-16 transport policy says students who live within three miles of their nearest suitable school will not normally receive support with transport unless there are exceptional circumstances which mean the student is unable to travel independently or with assistance from a parent, guardian, or carer.
15. Mrs X told the Council that exceptional circumstances applied to Y and provided information from Y’s school and an occupational therapist (OT) to support her view Y cannot travel independently. She also explained Y could no longer travel with assistance, as friends could no longer provide safe, consistent and reliable support, and Mrs X and her husband were unable to assist Y due to work arrangements.
16. The Council held an appeal panel in early August 2025. The Council sent its stage two appeal decision to Mrs X shortly after. The Council told Mrs X while it was sympathetic to her situation, the panel concluded the circumstances Mrs X presented did not constitute exceptional grounds to warrant a departure from its policy. As such, it maintained its decision and refused home to school transport assistance for Y.

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Analysis

17. We are not an appeal body. This means we do not take a second look at a decision to decide if it was wrong. Instead, we look at the processes an organisation followed to make its decision. If we consider it followed those processes correctly, we cannot question whether the decision was right or wrong, regardless of whether someone disagrees with the decision the organisation made. It is for the Council to decide Mrs X’s application and subsequent appeals for post-16 transport assistance for Y.
18. The Council made its original decision to refuse transport assistance in line with its policy and statutory guidance. Mrs X appealed this decision on the grounds Y’s needs would make it unsafe for him to access public transport or walk to school unaccompanied. The Council considered this, and its stage one appeal decision to Mrs X outlined that as she confirmed she, her husband or friends have previously assisted Y to school, he could be accompanied to school and so transport assistance was not needed. I have not found fault in the Council’s consideration of Mrs X’s stage one appeal. It appropriately explained the factors it had considered and the rationale for its decision.
19. In her stage two appeal, Mrs X explained to the Council she believed there were exceptional circumstances which meant Y is unable to travel independently or with assistance from a parent, guardian or carer. At the panel, Mrs X and the Council both put their cases forward and the panel discussed the merits of the appeal, and its stage two decision letter to Mrs X outlined the factors it had considered in reaching its decision to refuse assistance. As such, I have not found fault in the process the Council followed in reaching its stage two appeal decision. I cannot therefore question the merits of this decision.
20. However, the Council did not appropriately explain its decision in its letter it sent to Mrs X. It decided the circumstances Mrs X presented in Y’s case were not exceptional circumstances which meant he could not be accompanied to school. The Council says it does not usually consider working arrangements and childcare to be exceptional reasons why a child cannot be accompanied. As such, it concluded Mrs X’s family circumstances did not amount to an exceptional reason why they could not assist Y to school.
21. But, the Council’s decision letter to Mrs X did not explain this. The letter simply stated while the Council was sympathetic to Mrs X’s situation, the circumstances presented did not constitute exceptional grounds to warrant a departure from its policy. The Council’s policy states the decision letter should set out the rationale for the decision reached. The Council’s failure to appropriately explain its rationale about why it did not consider Mrs X’s circumstances to be exceptional in its decision letter was fault. This caused Mrs X frustration and uncertainty about why the Council did not consider her circumstances to be exceptional in its refusal of her appeal.
22. Sometimes we will recommend a financial payment to the person who brought their complaint to us. This might be to reimburse a person who has suffered a quantifiable financial loss, or it might be more of a symbolic payment which serves as an acknowledgement of the distress or difficulties they have been put through. But our remedies are not intended to be punitive and we do not award compensation in the way a court might. Nor do we calculate a financial remedy based on what the cost of the service would have been to the provider.
23. We have published guidance to explain how we calculate remedies for people who have suffered fault by a council. Our primary aim is to put people back in the position they would have been in if the fault by the had not occurred.

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Action

24. To remedy the outstanding injustice caused to Mrs X by the fault I have identified, the Council will take the following actions within four weeks of my final decision:
• Apologise to Mrs X for the distress and uncertainty caused to her by the Council’s failure to appropriately explain its rationale about why it did not consider her circumstances to be exceptional in its stage two appeal decision letter. This apology should be in line with our guidance Making an effective apology.
• Pay Mrs X £100 to acknowledge the same as above.
25. Within three months of my final decision, the Council will also share learning from this decision with relevant staff members involved in writing school transport decision letters. It will issue guidance about the importance of clearly explaining all rationale for decisions reached in such letters to service users.
26. The Council should provide us with evidence it has complied with the above actions.

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Decision

27. I uphold Mrs X’s complaint and find fault causing injustice. The Council has agreed actions to remedy injustice.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman