Kirklees Metropolitan Borough Council (25 019 775)
Category : Education > School transport
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 20 Apr 2026
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s decision to refuse Mr Y’s blue badge application because we are unlikely to find fault in the Council’s actions.
The complaint
- Mr Y complains that the Council refused his application for a blue badge for his child (Z). He says the Council did not apply the correct criteria when assessing Z’s needs and refusing his blue badge.
- Mr Y wants the Council to review the application.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
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. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B)).
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by Mr Y and the Council.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- Mr Y applied for a blue badge for his child (Z). The Council refused his application and Mr Y appealed this decision. The Council refused the appeal.
- The Council considered evidence Mr Y provided. It explained why it did not consider Mr Y’s child as meeting the criteria to qualify for a blue badge.
- I understand Mr Y disagrees with the decision to refuse his application for a blue badge. However, as the Council properly considered the application, we are unlikely to find fault in its actions to warrant an investigation by the Ombudsman.
- The Ombudsman is 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 disagree with the decision the organisation made.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman