The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council failing to reimburse Mr X’s transport costs. The Council has agreed to re-imburse Mr X’s costs and further investigation would not lead to a different outcome.
The complaint
Mr X complained the council failed to fully reimburse him for transport costs incurred for transporting his child (Y) to an external provision. Mr X also said the Council communicated poorly with him about the matter.
Mr X said this caused emotional distress, anxiety and financial hardship.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word fault to refer to these. We provide a free service but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start or continue with an investigation if we are satisfied with the actions an organisation has taken or proposes to take. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(7), as amended)
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
Mr X complained the Council failed to fully reimburse his transport costs for transporting Y to and from SEN provisions which he incurred between September 2024 and June 2025. At the point of contacting the Ombudsman, the Council had reimbursed his costs from January 2025 to June 2025.
Following my enquiry the Council acknowledged this had been an error and said it would reimburse Mr X the remainder of his costs upon receipt of evidence, which it had contacted Mr X to request.
This is a suitable outcome and therefore we will not investigate this complaint because we would not achieve a different outcome. It is now for Mr X to respond to the Council to provide the requested evidence so the Council can provide the refund.
Additionally, because we will not investigate the substantive matters of the complaint, we will not investigate the Council’s communication and complaint handling, because it is not proportionate to do so.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because the Council has agreed to re-imburse Mr X’s costs and further investigation would not lead to a different outcome.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman