Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council’s handling of his child’s post-16 transport. The Council has agreed the transport will continue unchanged and that is the outcome Mr X wanted. The injustice from the remaining issues does not warrant our involvement.

The complaint

1. The complainant, Mr X, complained the Council had offered his child (Y) unsuitable post-16 transport. The Council offered shared transport when Y had previously travelled alone. Mr X says this was despite there being no changes warranting different arrangements. The Council then corrected its offer, but Mr X is unhappy the Council has not provided information about how it reached its original decision. Mr X says the Council’s actions caused distress and he is unhappy it has not provided the information requested.

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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’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We do not start or continue an investigation if we decide:

• any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement, or
• we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation, or
• further investigation would not lead to a different outcome. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. The issue which this case flows from has now been resolved. The Council has confirmed the transport arrangements for Y will continue. We could achieve nothing further by considering this point.
6. Mr X is unhappy the Council has not provided information about how the original decision was reached – despite Mr X saying it would. Mr X is also unhappy about the Council’s arrangements for minuting meetings.
7. While I understand Mr X’s frustrations, we will not start an investigation into his complaint. We only have limited resources, and it is not our role to try to answer every single question a complainant may have about what an organisation did. The injustice from the remaining issues is not significant enough to warrant our involvement and an investigation is not therefore warranted.

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Final decision

8. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint. The Council has agreed his child’s transport will continue unchanged and the injustice from the remaining issues is not significant enough to warrant the Ombudsman’s involvement.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman