The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s decision not to issue a Freedom Pass (disability based). This is because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council causing injustice.
The complaint
The complainant, whom I refer to as Mr X, complains the Council refused to issue a Freedom Pass (disability based) because he could not attend an assessment. He disagrees with the Council’s interpretation of why he could not attend. Mr X wants the Council to issue a pass and pay compensation.
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 an investigation if we decide: there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating, or any fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained.
(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by Mr X and the Council. This includes the application for a pass, the medical evidence and the complaint correspondence. I also considered our Assessment Code.
My assessment
A person might be entitled to a pass if they have a disability which causes a substantial and long-term effect on their ability to walk. In assessing whether someone qualifies, government guidance discourages the use of evidence from a GP and recommends assessments by professionals such as Occupational Therapists (OT).
Mr X applied for a pass. Based on the evidence he provided the Council decided he is not eligible. Mr X challenged the decision. In response the Council invited him to attend an assessment with an OT.
Mr X declined to attend. His reasons included that he cannot travel far due to pain, cannot afford the bus fare, the assessors could not detect pain and the assessment would not carry any legal weight. He asked for the registration number of the OT; the Council said it could not provide the number. The Council said it could do a desk-based appeal and invited Mr X to provide new medical evidence.
Mr X did not attend an assessment so the Council reviewed the application based on the written information. The Council decided the evidence does not show Mr X qualifies for a pass.
Mr X complained about the issues relating to his reasons for not attending and for the Council refusing to provide the registration number. The Council said the registration numbers are available to the public and its statement that it could not provide them was wrong. The Council said that if had an assessment he could obtain the number. The Council said it had considered all his reasons for not attending but decided, when taken as a whole, they indicated a refusal to attend. It said that his statements about whether the assessors could detect pain and that an assessment would not have any legal weight, suggested he would not have attended regardless of any other reason.
I will not investigate this complaint because there is insufficient evidence of fault causing injustice. Mr X disagrees with the use of OTs but the Council is following government guidance. I have not identified any fault in the way the Council assessed the application on the papers but it is possible it might have awarded a pass if Mr X had attended an assessment.
I have not seen any fault in the way the Council explained its interpretation of Mr X’s reasons for not attending. The Council was wrong to say it could not provide the registration numbers but this did not cause an injustice. This is because no OT had been assigned when he made the request and he said he would not attend for other reasons. In addition the Council later corrected the error and explained the numbers are available.
We do not act as an appeal body and it is not my role to decide if Mr X is eligible for a pass – that is the job of the Council and OTs. We cannot tell the Council to give Mr X a pass and there are no grounds to start an investigation or ask for compensation.
Final decision
We will not investigate this complaint because there is insufficient evidence of fault causing injustice.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman