The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate Mrs X complaint about shared home to school transport. It is unlikely we would find fault in the Council’s decision not to agree to solo transport with a medical professional accompanying her child.
The complaint
Mrs X says the Council is wrong to refuse her request for solo home to school transport for her child, B, with a medical professional accompanying them.
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, which included the evidence the Council considered.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
B has disabilities. The Council accepts School Y is the nearest suitable school for B. It is over three miles from their home. The Council accepts it has a duty to provide free home to school transport.
In October 2024 Mrs X asked the Council to provide solo transport for B with a medically trained professional accompanying them. She said the shared transport B the Council provided, had meant B had arrived at school distressed and dysregulated. She says the transport is not safe or suitable.
The Council considered her request and refused it. It also considered a review request, in January 2025, and an appeal in April 2025. Both refused her request. Mrs X says this is wrong. She says it breaches the law. She says the Council failed to adequately consider the evidence she submitted in support of her claims and has failed to understand B’s vulnerabilities.
Analysis The Council’s review decision and appeal decision show it has considered the evidence Mrs X submitted. It also contacted the transport providers to seek their experiences of how the transport had gone.
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 a complainant disagrees with the decision the organisation made.
I have considered the steps the organisation took to consider the issue, and the information it took account. It is unlikely we would find fault in how it took the decision and we therefore could not question whether that decision was right or wrong.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because it is unlikely we would find fault.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman