Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the way the Council handled Ms X’s request for driving lessons after leaving care. This is because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council.

The complaint

1. Ms X complained that she has been asking the Council to fund driving lessons since 2018. Ms X says she should be eligible for the lessons as a care leaver, and she feels frustrated and unsupported.

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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 the complainant and information from the council.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. The law does not say a council must providing driving lessons for young people leaving care. The Council says to meet its funding criteria for driving lessons:
• a care leaver must be able to show they can fund their own lessons after the 20 hours the Council can offer.
• the need for lessons must also be in the young person’s Pathway Plan.
6. The Council says driving lessons were not included in Ms X’s Pathway Plan, and she does not meet its criteria for it to provide them. It has advised Ms X she should instead focus on seeking accommodation and resolving her financial difficulties.
7. Although Ms X disagrees with the Council’s decision, we are not able to question it without evidence of fault in its decision-making process. The Council has acted in line with its policy and explained its decision clearly, so an investigation would be unlikely to find fault. We will not therefore start an investigation.

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Final decision

8. We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman