LGO takes council to task over school transport refusal

The Local Government Ombudsman has criticised a county council for failing to take disability issues properly into account and applying too high a test for awarding transport when refusing to provide help for a six-year-old boy.

“Mrs Booth”, the complainant and the boy’s grandmother, claimed that Surrey County Council had acted unreasonably in not providing home to school transport. Both she and her daughter have health problems.

The complainant alleged that Surrey had not properly considered the medical and other evidence that suggested the boy was unable to make the journey unaccompanied (he has been diagnosed as having Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and Oppositional Defiant Disorder, and does not appreciate road safety).

Nor, she said, did it consider that she and her daughter could not take him because of their own problems.

The Ombudsman, Tony Redmond, found maladministration causing injustice, ruling that the council had initially failed even to consider whether there was an exceptional need for transport.

According to the LGO, the council:

• Did not properly consider the evidence and took into account inaccurate information
• Did not keep proper records of the evidence it relied on in reaching its decisions and the way those decisions were reached
• Did not record how the case had been considered in accordance with the law
• Referred to a higher test for transport to be awarded than was required by its own policy
• Failed to explain the reasons for its decision properly
• Failed to consider its duties properly under the Disability Discrimination Act, and
• Delayed in progressing matters through its appeals procedure.

Redmond said: “I do not believe the council ever explained exactly how it expected [the boy] to get to school if transport was not provided.

“It is also clear to me that if there had been no fault by the council, a decision to award school transport would have been taken considerably earlier than was in fact the case. As a result of this fault the complainants have been caused considerable distress and inconvenience and the boy’s grandmother in particular has been forced to take her grandson to school despite clear medical advice that she should not continue to do so.”

The LGO said he welcomed procedural improvements introduced by the council but suggested it should consider whether further changes were necessary.

He recommended that Surrey pay £1,500 in recognition of the injustice, £500 for the time and trouble it took Mrs Booth to pursue the matter, and £500 to the daughter for the distress. The council has agreed to make the payments.