Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s handling of an application for home to school transport. This is because the Council has agreed to re-take its stage 2 decision. This is an appropriate remedy.

The complaint

1. The complainant, Mrs X, is unhappy the Council has refused her request for backdated support with home to school transport. Mrs X says her personal circumstances meant she could not apply earlier. A representative, Ms Y, supported Mrs X with her complaints to the Council and the Ombudsman.

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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’. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
3. We provide a free service but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start or continue with an investigation if we are satisfied with the actions an organisation has taken or proposes to take. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(7), as amended)
4. Under our information sharing agreement, we will share this decision with the Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills (Ofsted)

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How I considered this complaint

5. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
6. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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What I found

Background

7. Mrs X asked the Council in February 2025 to provide her children with help with home to school transport. The Council agreed and put in place a Personal Transport Budget.
8. Ms Y then complained to the Council on Mrs X’s behalf and said it had not provided support with transport from November 2024 to February 2025. Ms Y sent evidence to explain why Mrs X had not applied for transport earlier.
9. The Council responded to the above complaint. It refused the request for backdated support. It said it “would be unable to assess and agree any form of assistance before an application has been submitted.”
10. Ms Y then submitted a stage 2 complaint which also referred to the Council not providing support with transport from November 2022 to August 2023. Ms Y sent extra information in support of her complaint.
11. The Council sent a final response. It said the stage 1 response fully addressed the issues raised and the Council could not agree assistance for a period before an application had been submitted. It would not therefore escalate the complaint.

Assessment

12. It Is not our role to say if the Council should provide backdated support – we are not a right of appeal. Our role is to look at how the Council made its decisions. Without evidence of fault in the decision-making process, we have no powers to become involved. Having considered the Council’s responses to Mrs X’s complaints we identified some issues with its responses. These included:
• The stage 1 response did not reference any of the supporting information sent. We could not therefore be sure the Council had considered it.
• The stage 2 response referred to the stage 1 response and the position it set out. There was no reference to the information sent after the stage 1 response and the claim for backdated support for November 2022 to August 2023. Again, we could not be sure the Council had considered these points.
• The Council had said it would be unable to agree any form of assistance before an application had been submitted. This suggests a blanket approach, while we would expect a council to consider each case individually. A council can of course refuse backdated requests (unless a council policy / legislation says otherwise) but only after proper consideration.
• Ms Y asked the Council to say which of its policies its refusal was based on. The Council did not respond to this point.
13. The points above therefore cast doubt on whether the Council had properly considered Mrs X’s complaints and the requests for backdated support. This is fault and has caused uncertainty.
14. To resolve this complaint early we asked the Council to remedy the injustice by re-taking its stage 2 decision. To its credit, the Council agreed to our invitation. Within four weeks of this decision the Council should therefore write to Mrs X with a fresh decision. This should show how it considered all the information sent, including the claim for November 2022 to August 2023, and how any decision was reached.
15. The Council has agreed a suitable remedy, and we will not therefore investigate.

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Final decision

16. We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because the Council has agreed a suitable remedy for the identified injustice.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman