Summary: Ms X complained about the Council’s handling of her child, Y’s Personal Transport Budget (PTB) since late 2022. The Council has processed and decided Y’s PTB in line with its policy. However, it delayed processing Ms X’s change of circumstances requests on two occasions and delayed informing her of both underpayments and overpayments. It also communicated and handled her complaint poorly. The Council agreed to make a symbolic payment to recognise the distress and confusion this caused Ms X. It will also carry out service improvements.

The complaint

1. Ms X complained about the Council’s handling of her child, Y’s Personal Transport Budget (PTB) between 2022 and 2024. She said a combination of poor decision making and communication meant she lost PTB payments and received various overpayments.
2. All of this has caused Ms X distress, confusion and time and trouble.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word fault to refer to these. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint. I refer to this as ‘injustice’. If there has been fault which has caused significant injustice, or that could cause injustice to others in the future we may suggest a remedy. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26(1) and 26A(1), as amended)
4. 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)
5. If we are satisfied with an organisation’s actions or proposed actions, we can complete our investigation and issue a decision statement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 30(1B) and 34H(i), as amended)
6. 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

7. I considered evidence provided by Ms X and the Council as well as relevant law, policy and guidance.
8. Ms X and the Council had an opportunity to comment on my draft decision. I considered comments before making a final decision.

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What I found

Personal Transport Budget

9. A Personal Transport Budget (PTB) is funding to help get a child to school or college instead of transport provided by the Council. It allows families the flexibility to arrange the transport in a way that suits them such as to cover fuel costs, pay for a taxi or to buy a bus pass.
10. A PTB is granted at the discretion of the Council for children and young people who are eligible to receive home to school/college transport. PTBs are based on whether or not it is cost effective for the Council. If it is not cost effective the Council will not grant a PTB. Councils will usually instead allocate an alternative form of transport assistance.

The Council’s policy

11. The Council has a policy on how it deals with and administers PTBs. It says a PTB is available to children with an Education, Health and Care (EHC) Plan who have been assessed as eligible for home to school transport. The policy says the amount of money (banding) awarded is based on the distance between home and school. The Council pays the funding monthly straight into the parent/carers bank account.
12. If a child moves home or school parents must notify the Council no later than 28 days before the change is due to take place. Upon notification of a change of circumstance the Council will reassess the child’s eligibility for a PTB to ensure a PTB is still suitable or whether an alternative method of transport is more appropriate. The Council aims to complete change of circumstances reviews within the 28 day period. Where no notification has taken place and payments are made following changes in circumstances the policy says it will recover all overpayments. Parents can ask for a review of any decision that they are unhappy with.

What happened

13. Ms X has a child, Y who is entitled to home to school transport assistance as they have an EHC Plan. The Council provides Ms X with a PTB as a monthly direct payment. The Council first approved Y’s PTB in 2019.
14. At the end of October 2022 Ms X submitted a change of address to the Council. The Council approved the address change in early December 2023 which meant Y was now placed into band 3. In response to our enquiries the Council said it took 36 days to process this request which meant Ms X was entitled to a rebate of £94.82.
15. In October 2023 Ms X advised the Council that Y had moved to a new school with immediate effect. Due to dealing with other requests the Council did not reassess Y’s circumstances until mid-December 2023 when it wrote to Ms X declining to continue providing Y with a PTB. The email to Ms X stated there was currently a transport arrangement in place which Y could share which was more cost effective than giving Y a separate PTB. The Council said it would therefore cancel Y’s PTB with immediate effect. This meant Y was not entitled to a PTB from October 2023 onwards when he started attending the new school. The email said Ms X could request a review of the decision if she disagreed.
16. Ms X declined to accept the new transport arrangement because Y would refuse to leave the house. She appealed the decision at the end of December 2023. Y’s social worker provided a statement asking the Council to reconsider its decision and at the Council’s request Ms X provided some further evidence during February 2024 including a letter from the GP. The Council wrote to Ms X in early March confirming it now approved Y’s PTB at band 2 from that month.
17. Ms X wrote to the Council again in March 2023 asking whether it could revise the transport arrangement. Ms X said she currently drove Y to school but said she now stays there until school ends due to the mileage costs and her own disability. She asked whether the Council would allow her to transport Y in the morning and then it arrange transport back home for Y in the afternoon. The Council said that was not viable but offered to transport Y for both journeys instead.
18. Ms X complained to the Council and escalated her complaint to stage 2 in March 2024. She complained about various issues around the care and support provided for Y which are not subject to this investigation. With regards to the Council's handling of the PTB she complained the Council’s decision making meant she was being financially penalised. She said the lack of payments between December 2023 and March 2023 meant she had to transport Y at her own cost during this period. She also said she had to pay for the GP’s letter to get the PTB reinstated.
19. The Council responded to Ms X in July 2024 and apologised for the delay in responding to her. It did not provide a response to her issues around the handling of the PTB.
20. Ms X was unhappy with the Council’s response and in July 2024 complained to us.
21. Records show the Council also wrote to Ms X in July 2024 advising her that Y’s PTB would continue into the 2024/25 academic year.
22. Since complaining to us records show that in November 2024 the Council wrote to Ms X to inform her it had calculated an overpayment of Y’s PTB between November and December 2023. It said due to the processing time dealing with the change of school it had carried on paying Ms X during this period. The Council said due to staffing changes it did not discover the overpayment until now. The overpayment amount totalled £921.05 and would therefore be recouped from the next monthly payments.

My findings

23. The Council took too long to process Ms X’s change of address request in October 2022 which caused a delay in moving her into a higher banding. That was fault. It meant the Council underpaid Ms X by £94.82. The Council did not discover this underpayment until it responded to us which was also fault and delayed Ms X receiving the funds she was entitled to. The Council said it will deduct the underpayment from Ms X’s outstanding overpayment.
24. The Council’s PTB policy says parents must notify it of change of circumstances no later than 28 days before the change. When Ms X told the Council Y had moved schools in October 2023 she told them it was with immediate effect. Although the Council again took too long to review Y’s change of circumstances, there was no fault with the decision to remove the PTB which it did from December 2023. The Council decided there was a more cost effective way to transport Y to school. Ms X had a right of review of that decision and used that right. Upon receipt of further evidence, the Council reversed its decision and put Y’s PTB back in place from March 2024. Again, there was no fault in that decision.
25. As Ms X did not give the Council 28 days’ notice of Y’s change of school this meant the Council continued paying the PTB between November and December while it was reviewing the change. As explained above this overpayment totalled £921.05. There is no fault in the Council continuing to pay the PTB as Ms X did not give the required notice. However, this amount would have been lower had the Council reviewed the change of circumstances in line with its policy. There is no fault in the Council recovering the overpayment, but it failed to identify the overpayment in a timely manner which meant it was not communicated to Ms X until November 2024, nearly a year after the overpayment occurred. That was fault and has caused Ms X distress, confusion and meant Ms X received no or reduced funding between November 2024 and February 2025.
26. The Council’s complained response to Ms X was poor. It did not address any of the concerns raised about the PTB. Had the Council investigated or responded to her concerns at the time it would likely have both identified the underpayment and overpayment issues much earlier. The Council also accepted delays. All of this was fault.

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Action

27. Within one month of the final decision the Council agreed to take the following action:
1. Pay Ms X £250 to recognise the distress and confusion caused by the delays in telling her about the underpayments and overpayments made around Y’s PTB and its poor complaint response.
2. Deduct the £94.82 underpayment from Mrs X’s outstanding PTB overpayment amount.
3. Review its procedures around the processing of PTB change of circumstance requests to ensure requests are dealt with within 28 days as outlined in its PTB policy.
4. Review its procedures to ensure that where there is a change of circumstances that it considers, at the time, whether this results in an underpayment or overpayment of the PTB. It should then notify the parent/carer of this in a timely manner.
5. Remind its complaint handlers to ensure all the main areas of a complaint are responded to and to respond to complaints a timely manner.
28. The Council should provide us with evidence it has complied with the above actions.

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Decision

29. I find fault causing injustice. The Council agreed to remedy that injustice.

Investigator’s decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman