Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s decision to refuse her application and appeal for a personal travel budget for her children. There is not enough evidence of fault by the Council to warrant investigation.

The complaint

1. Miss X complains the refused to provide home-to-school travel support, though a personal travel budget, for her children. Miss X says the Council failed to consider that her family was relocated by the Council, as an emergency measure, because of problems with the family’s previous council housing. Miss X says the Council’s decision impacts her children’s mental health and education and wants the Council to reconsider its decision.

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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 there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating. (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.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. Local authorities must make suitable home to school travel arrangements as they consider necessary for ‘eligible children’ of compulsory school age to attend their ‘qualifying school’. Councils may also choose to provide a personal travel budget (PTB) in lieu of providing transport arrangements. The relevant qualifying school is the nearest school with places available that provides education appropriate to the age, ability and aptitude of the child, and any special educational needs the child may have.
6. Both the Council’s guidance and the government’s statutory guidance say children are only eligible if they live at least two miles away from their nearest qualifying school. This is unless the walking route or the child’s mobility issues make it unreasonable to expect a child to walk to a school within that distance.
7. 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 you disagree with the decision the organisation made.
8. The Council refused Miss X’s request for a PTB to transport her children to their previously enrolled school. The decision was on the basis that Miss X now live within two miles of the nearest qualifying school. The Council offered to support Miss X in transferring her children to that school. Miss X appealed the decision, setting out the reasons the Council should exercise its discretion to make an exception in her case and provide a PTB for her children to continue travelling to their previous school. The reasons included the Council’s previous housing issues.
9. The appeal panel upheld the Council’s decision and refused to apply its discretion. The panel considered the relevant legislation, the Council’s policies and the information and arguments from Miss X.
10. We will not investigate this complaint because there is not enough evidence of fault by the Council. It is not for the Ombudsman to take a view on whether the transport should be provided. The question for us is whether there is evidence of fault in the way the panel considered the matter and, if so, whether that affected the outcome. There is no such evidence here. That being the case, the Ombudsman cannot criticise the panel’s decision or intervene to substitute an alternative view.

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Final decision

11. We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint because there is not enough evidence of fault affecting the Council’s decision.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman