The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council refusing to provide post-16 transport to college. This is because the Council has now agreed to provide transport. This is the outcome Mrs X wanted. An investigation would not achieve anything more.
The complaint
The complainant, whom I shall refer to as Mrs X, complained the Council had refused to provide her child with post-16 transport to college. Mrs X’s child has an Education, Health and Care Plan.
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: we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation, or further investigation would not lead to a different outcome, or there is no worthwhile outcome achievable by our investigation.
(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because the Council has now agreed to provide transport to her child. An investigation would not achieve anything more and so an investigation is not warranted.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman