The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s decision to reject Mrs X’s application for home to school transport on behalf of her child Y. This is because an investigation would be unlikely to find fault with the Council’s actions.
The complaint
Mrs X complained the Council rejected her application for home to school transport on behalf of her child Y, who has special educational needs (SEN).
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 Mrs X and the Council.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
Mrs X applied to the Council on behalf of her child Y, for a place on its home to school transport scheme. In the application she said Y had SEN and struggled to walk unsupervised or use public transport.
The Council declined Mrs X’s application because Y lived under the required distance from the school and the Council deemed it reasonable for Mrs X to accompany Y to school.
Mrs X appealed the Council’s decision. She said she had other children she needed to accompany to school, and Y could not be expected to walk to school alone.
The Council held an appeals panel and considered Y’s education, health and care plan. They also considered Mrs X’s statements. The panel maintained Y was not eligible for home to school transport and the circumstances did not warrant exercising discretion to overturn its initial decision. Mrs X then referred the complaint to the Ombudsman.
The Ombudsman cannot question the outcome of a decision the Council has made if it has made it in line with the correct process. The evidence shows the Council has considered Mrs X’s application and the supporting evidence she supplied in line with its policy and determined Y is not eligible for the scheme. There is no evidence of fault in the way the Council arrived at this decision and so an investigation would be unlikely to find fault with the Council’s actions.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because an investigation would be unlikely to find fault with the Council’s actions.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman