Summary: We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint about the Council refusing to arrange free post 16 home to school transport. We are unlikely to find fault.

The complaint

1. Miss X says the Council should provide post 16 home to school transport for Y.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate complaints of injustice caused by ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. I have used the word fault to refer to these. We consider whether there was fault in the way an organisation made its decision. If there was no fault in how the organisation made its decision, we cannot question the outcome. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered information provided by Miss X and the Council, including the review panel papers.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. Once a young person reaches 16 the Council does not have to provide free home to school transport. Instead it has to have a transport policy which sets out what it can offer in terms of appropriate transport to facilitate attendance at education. It can ask for a parental contribution. It should have an internal appeals process.
6. Y received home to school transport while of compulsory school age. For post 16 transport the Council offered a Personal Transport Allowance (PTA). Miss X as Y’s mother said the PTA was not enough to cover the cost of home to school transport. She asked the Council to review its decision and then asked for its Review Panel to consider her appeal. At both stages her appeal was rejected. The Council’s Review Panel agreed with the PTA but did believe it need to arrange transport.
7. Miss X says she has two other younger children to get to school. She says Y cannot travel alone.
8. The Council’s home to school transport Review Panel considered her case in June 2026. It adjourned the case to obtain more information about the youngest sibling. It then decided the PTA was suitable and it rejected Miss X’s appeal. It accepted Y could not travel alone. But it believed Miss X could take both the youngest child and Y to their education settings. It is clear from the Clerk’s notes the Review Panel actively considered Miss X’s case. We are unlikely to find fault.

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Final decision

9. We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint because we are unlikely to find fault.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman