London borough criticised over approach to deciding school transport applications for children with disabilities

The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman has heavily criticised a London borough over its failure to make agreed improvements to the way it decides school transport applications for children with disabilities.

The LGO said that while Bexley Council had implemented some of the changes, it still had concerns about the local authority’s understanding of the statutory guidance and its role and duties in deciding transport applications.

In a report on the challenges faced by three families of children with disabilities, the Ombudsman said Bexley “failed to consider not just whether the children could physically walk, but whether their autism, sensory issues, behaviour and fatigue meant they could walk the distance safely.

“It also continued to put the onus on parents to provide supporting evidence their children could not walk, rather than taking responsibility for collecting the professional evidence needed to reach a view.”

The Ombudsman also found the council failed to understand the legal test needed to assess whether a child could walk to school, “and instead made the decision based on whether the children could travel by car or public transport or enjoy community activities”.

The Ombudsman found the council at fault as well for only allowing the families to provide evidence at the appeal stage, rather than first consideration, and for how it calculated the financial remedy for the families.

Bexley has agreed to:

• apologise to all three families for failing to follow the Ombudsman’s recommendations;
• reconsider the applications of the families as new applications, where it has not already reversed its previous decision on appeal;
• obtain professional advice or carry out a face-to-face assessment, if required to decide an application;
• pay the families £250 each for the time and trouble of an additional unnecessary appeal and complaint, and for the time sourcing additional evidence which the council had agreed it would get;
• refund the families’ out-of-pocket expenses for the period they were without transport;
• pay each family £10 for each school day they were without transport to acknowledge the time spent transporting their children, the stress and inconvenience, and the lost opportunity to work or undertake other activities;
• review its training, policy and advice to officers and panel members;
• review again the staffing levels within the relevant department.
• provide training to all relevant staff on how the Ombudsman works, and the importance of complying with agreed recommendations;
• consider whether officers and panel members would benefit from training on autism and other ‘hidden disabilities’.

Michael King, Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman, said: “When a council agrees to our recommendations it should make every effort to comply. It is not acceptable for councils to agree to our recommendations just to close down a complaint.

“Not only has the council not been completely transparent with my office, it has also left three families frustrated and uncertain that their complaint and appeal was dealt with properly. This can only have eroded their trust in the authority’s capacity to get things right.

“I am pleased the council has now agreed to my further recommendations and, as with all investigations, we will keep in close contact with the council to get assurances these improvements are carried out.”

Jackie Belton, Chief Executive of the London Borough of Bexley, said: "We have apologised to the families involved in the cases that are the subject of the Local Government Ombudsman’s report. The way their complaints were handled is unacceptable. We have taken action to try to ensure that similar errors do not occur in the future. We recognise and welcome scrutiny of our actions by the LGO. Their input helps us to ensure that we continue to learn.

"The report made several recommendations. We accept them and have taken action over the last few months to implement them. This includes introducing a more robust reporting and governance structure and changes to the wording of our SEN travel policy. We are pleased to have already received some positive feedback following these changes.

"We will continue to listen to and work with partners, families and schools to make improvements to the service."