Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council’s decision to refuse his application for free home to school transport for her daughter. This is because there is not enough evidence of fault by the Council to warrant an investigation.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains the Council refuses to provide school transport for his son.

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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 for school transport for his son.
6. To be eligible for school transport a child aged 8 to 16 must be attending the nearest suitable school and must live more than 3 miles from the school by safe walking distance.
7. The Council refused Mr X’s application because the school he has chosen for his son is not the nearest suitable school to their home. The Council confirms there is another school which is just under half a mile closer which had places available at the time Mr X applied for a school place for his son.
8. Mr X appealed the Council’s decision. He said:
• the distance between the nearest school and their chosen school is minimal
• the walking route is not safe; and
• the chosen school is closer to where he and his wife work.
9. The Council considered the additional information Mr X provided but did not uphold his appeal. It is satisfied Mr X’s son is not eligible as he is not attending the nearest suitable school. And there are no grounds for it to depart from its policy.
10. Mr X could have asked for a second stage appeal which is a hearing with a panel of Councillors. However, he chose not to do so. The timeframe for requesting a second stage appeal is now closed.
11. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint. There is no sign of fault in the way the decision to refuse the application was reached. We are not an appeal body and it is not our role to question the merits of the Council’s decisions where there is no sign of fault in the way it was reached. This is a decision it was entitled to make.

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Final decision

12. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because we have not seen enough evidence of fault in the way the Council considered his application for school transport for his son.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman