The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint the Council was wrong to refuse her application for home to school transport. It is unlikely we would find fault.
The complaint
The complainant, whom I shall call Mrs X, says the Council was wrong to refuse her application for free home to school transport for her children, Y and Z.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
We investigate complaints of injustice caused by 'maladministration' and 'service failure'. I have used the word 'fault' to refer to these. We cannot question whether a council’s decision is right or wrong simply because the complainant disagrees with it. We must consider whether there was fault in the way the decision was reached. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), as amended) 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)
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by Miss X and the Council.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
In April 2021, Miss X applied to the Council for free home to school transport for her children, Y and Z. They attend a primary school which is just under three miles from their home. The nearest school is less than half a mile from her home. She did not include that school in her application for a school place for either child.
The Council refused her home to school transport application. Miss X sought a review and then had an appeal with an appeal panel in June 2021. It also refused her application.
The Council says Y and Z are not attending their nearest suitable school.
Miss X says she can no longer afford the taxi fares to get her children to their school. She says she did not apply to the nearest school as she was not happy with its Ofsted report. She wanted her children to attend the best school she could get a place at for them.
Background law and guidance In July 2014, the government issued statutory guidance to local education authorities on home to school travel and transport. (The Education Act 1996 sections 508 and 509, and part 6 of the Education and Inspections Act 2006.) Councils have to follow this guidance unless they have good reasons not to.
Councils are required to make travel arrangements and provide free transport for “eligible children” of compulsory school age to attend their “nearest suitable school”. A child is eligible where the nearest suitable school is more than two miles from their home if the child is aged under eight; and three miles if aged between eight and sixteen.
The guidance says the nearest suitable school is: “Taken to mean the nearest qualifying school with places available that provides education appropriate to the age, ability and aptitude of the child, and any SEN that the child may have.”
It defines qualifying schools as: “community, foundation or voluntary schools; community or foundation special schools; non-maintained special schools; pupil referral units; maintained nursery schools; or city technology colleges (CTC), city colleges for the technology of the arts (CCTA) or academies, including free schools and University Technical Colleges (UTC).”
The guidance also provides wider rights to free transport for low income families. But this does not apply to Miss X, as her children are not attending the nearest suitable school.
Councils also have “discretionary powers to go beyond their statutory duties and provide transport for children who are not entitled to free transport.” They may make charges for, or pay all or some of the reasonable travel expenses where they use their discretionary powers to provide transport.
The guidance says councils should have an appeals system. It sets out a recommended appeal process.
Analysis It is unlikely we would find fault in the Council’s decision as it is in line with the law and guidance. Miss X’s children do not attend their nearest school. Miss X choose to seek and accept places at schools further away. The Council has decided she has not provided any exceptional reasons why it should, despite her choices, provide free transport. This is a decision it is entitled to take. The Council has used the recommended appeals process. We are unlikely to find the process was flawed.
Final decision
We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint. This is because we are unlikely to find fault which caused the claimed injustice.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman