Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s decision not to provide Mr X with a backdated travel assistance personal budget. This is because an investigation would be unlikely to find fault with the Council’s actions.

The complaint

1. Mr X complained that the Council would not provide him with a backdated travel assistance personal budget after he successfully applied for one. He also complained that the Council delayed responding to his application.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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))

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered information provided by Mr X and the Council.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. Mr X applied to the Council for a travel assistance personal budget in October 2023 to allow him to take his child to school.
6. The Council agreed to the budget in principle in November 2023 but requested further information from Mr X before fully approving the application. After receiving the information in December 2023, the Council agreed to provide travel assistance and backdated the award to November 2023.
7. Mr X complained to the Council because he felt the Council should backdate the award to the date he applied in October. He was also unhappy with the time taken to approve the application.
8. The Council advised Mr X that its policy did not require it to offer backdated awards and it had done so on a discretionary basis. The Council also confirmed there are no specific timescales cited in its policy which require it to decide on personal budget applications within a certain timeframe. Mr X brought his complaint to the Ombudsman because he was unhappy with its response.
9. The evidence shows that the Council’s policy does not require it to offer applicants backdated travel assistance or respond to applications within a specific timeframe. Despite this, the Council has provided a partially backdated award. This was a reasonable action for the Council to take. An investigation would be unlikely to find fault with the Council’s management of this issue.

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Final decision

10. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because an investigation would be unlikely to find fault with the Council’s actions.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman