Summary: We will not investigate this complaint that the Council has failed to ensure the provision of safe and appropriate school transport for the complainant’s son. This is because there is insufficient evidence of fault on the Council’s part to warrant investigation.

The complaint

1. The complainant, Ms X, complains that the Council has failed to ensure the provision of safe and appropriate school transport for her 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 effect 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 an investigation if we decide the tests set out in our Assessment Code are not met. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered information provided by the complainant.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. Ms X’s son qualifies for school transport assistance provided by the Council. Ms X complains that the Council has failed to ensure the provision of appropriate transport, and this has caused her and her son alarm and distress. She says her son has been unable to access school since November 2024.
6. Ms X has repeatedly brought her concerns to the Council’s attention. She says that, rather than addressing them, it has continued to employ unsuitable transport providers, causing ongoing safeguarding risks and concerns.
7. The correspondence Ms X has provided shows that the Council believes it has responded appropriately to her concerns. It says that the frequency and nature of the matters she has raised have led it to conclude that it can no longer provide direct transport for Ms X’s son. Instead, it is prepared to provide Ms X with a personal transport budget.
8. The Ombudsman will not investigate Ms X’s complaint because there is insufficient evidence of fault on the Council’s part. The Council says it has responded to Ms X’s concerns, and has set out how it has done so. She disagrees with the findings it has made and the action it has taken, but that does not mean the Ombudsman can find that they amount to fault. It is for the Council to decide whether to award transport contracts to individual providers and the Ombudsman will not intervene.
9. It is clear however that, despite the responses the Council has made, Ms X remains unsatisfied with the school transport the Council provides. In these circumstances, the Council decided to discharge its duty to her son by way of a personal transport budget. That is a decision it is entitled to make. The reasons for it are properly set out and appear reasonable and proportionate in the circumstances. That being the case, it is not for the Ombudsman to criticise the decision or to intervene to substitute an alternative view. Our intervention is not therefore warranted.

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Final decision

10. We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint because there is insufficient evidence of fault on the Council’s part.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman