The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s handling of the provision of educational transport for the complainant’s daughter. This is because the Council has already remedied any injustice by ensuring a travel bursary is in place and offering a payment of £200 for distress and frustration. We could not provide an additional worthwhile outcome through another investigation.
The complaint
The complainant, who I refer to here as Ms E, says that the Council promised to provide her daughter, D, with a travel allowance for the whole of her education, but later removed it.
It did not warn her of the removal in advance and only when she complained did it tell her its policy is restricted to a pre-16 travel allowance.
It has refused to accept that its policy should not have been applied to D, because of its earlier undertaking Although the Council has now put in place a post-16 travel bursary, to enable D to attend her school, and has offered a financial payment in recognition of distress and frustration for the family, Ms E remains dissatisfied. She says the Council has not addressed her complaint about the way travel funding has been handled, and wants it to acknowledge that it was at fault.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
The Ombudsman investigates 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 may decide not to continue with an investigation if we decide further investigation would not lead to a different outcome. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by Ms E and the Council.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
Final decision
We will not investigate the complaint because we do not investigate unless any potential fault has caused significant injustice that we can remedy. In this case the Council has already provided an appropriate remedy for any injustice. Further investigation by the LGSCO would not provide a different or additional outcome.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman