Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s decision not to provide free school transport for the complainant’s son outside normal school hours. We have not seen enough evidence of fault in the way the Council made its decision.

The complaint

1. Ms X complains the Council refuses to provide school transport for her son outside normal school hours on the one day a week he attends a therapy session.

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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 Ms X and the Council.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. Ms X’s son receives free school transport to college. She asked the Council to provide transport to a therapy session which he attends once a week before college.
6. The Council refused as it is only required to provide transport to and from college, not to other events such as therapy. Its’ policy states consideration will not normally be given to:
• parent’s work or other commitments
• personal circumstances when considering drop off and collection points and times
• travel will only be provided at the standard school start and finish times; or
• dental, medication or hospital appointments or other non-educational appointments.
7. Ms X appealed against the Council’s decision. She said she will take her son to the therapy session and bring him home. Therefore she wants the Council to pick him up from home later and bring him home. Alternatively, she said the Council could take her son from his therapy session to college. Ms X also provided information about her son’s medical needs, including his need for the therapy sessions and her own medical problems which affect her mobility.
8. Ms X also confirmed her son is missing college on the day he attends his therapy session.
9. The appeal panel considered the extra information Ms X provided but did not uphold the appeal. It was satisfied her application did not provide an exceptional reason to depart from its policy.
10. We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint. This is because 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, as here, there is no sign of fault in the way it was reached. This is a decision it was entitled to make, and it was made in line with the published policy.

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Final decision

11. We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint because we have not seen evidence of fault in the way the Council consider her application and appeal for school transport outside the normal school time.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman