| SPOTLIGHT |
A Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman investigation has found that Hampshire County Council expected a young child with special educational needs to travel on their own in a taxi to school – or face a three-hour round-trip in shared transport, which would exceed its own guidance on the maximum time limit on school journeys.
The case was investigated after a father complained his child, who was due to start Reception at his special needs school in 2021, was not given the free school transport he was entitled to during the summer term.
The child’s new school was more than 12 miles away from the family home. The family was originally offered the option of shared transport, but this would have meant the young boy spending 1 hour 40 minutes each way to school and home because of other children being picked up and dropped off.
The Ombudsman’s investigation found the council offered the shared transport, despite it taking nearly an hour longer than its own guidance on school journeys, which suggested a time limit of 45 minutes for primary school age children.
The child’s father said this was not appropriate. The council instead offered a taxi, but could not provide an escort, despite the child being assessed as needing one because of their age, and speech and language difficulties.
The father and his wife were left with no other option than to drive the child to and from school between April and July, until the council found an escort.
The report notes that the council did not properly assess the boy’s need for an escort in April, and should not have expected the family to provide either the escort or the transport when it became clear they did not agree.
Michael King, Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman, said: “The council should not have taken so long to put in place the escorted travel it was obvious from the outset this young child needed. While I appreciate the difficulties the council has in recruiting escorts, it should have worked on finding one, rather than expecting the family to pick up the slack.
“I welcome the council’s ready agreement to my recommendations to improve the process for parents in future.”
In this case the council has agreed to apologise to the family and pay its mileage allowance for the journeys they provided school transport.
It will also pay the family a combined £400 to acknowledge their time and trouble of having to drive their child to school and in bringing the complaint.
Leader of Hampshire County Council, Cllr Rob Humby said: “I can assure residents that we always work hard to try to get things right first time and take all complaints very seriously.
“Where we haven’t been able to resolve things directly with the member of the public, we work closely with the Ombudsman to remedy any issues and make improvements to our services along the way.
“In this matter I can confirm that we have apologised to the family and actioned the Ombudsman’s further directions.”
The council has agreed it will, within three months of the date of the report, provide the Ombudsman with evidence it has reviewed its school transport offer letters to ensure it provides families with details of the statutory guidance, its policy, and the appeals process.
Lottie Winson
