Agenda item
Minutes:
The Council was required to bring to the attention of Members the report of the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman. The Standards Committee had been identified as the most appropriate forum to consider the Report and the accompanying progress update.
The Committee received a report which provided a summary of a recent Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman Report, published on 24 July 2020, that had found the Council to be at fault for the way in which it provided home to school transport for 2 children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities. The Council was required to provide free home to school transport for children of compulsory school age.
The Ombudsman’s report had concluded that the Council, in this case, did not meet its statutory duty to provide free home to school transport for children of school age who were eligible. The Council had accepted the findings of the ombudsman. The report detailed the progress made in implementing the recommendations identified in the Ombudsman’s report.
Members were informed that a parent of 2 children with Education, Health and Care Plans had made a complaint to the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGO) in April 2019 about their home to school transport arrangements. The Council had been unable to provide suitable transport for the 2 children who were eligible for free transport due to their Special Educational Needs and Disabilities. The parent had been receiving 2-way mileage to transport them herself to a school 8 miles away. The parent argued that this did not amount to free transport as her return journey home was not covered by the mileage allowance and it was unreasonable to expect her to wait at the school all day.
The parent submitted an application to the Transport Exceptions Panel to consider 4-way mileage and when the Panel declined the request, the parent progressed the matter to the Independent Appeal Panel. This Panel also declined her request. During this time there was some confusion around whether the Council could provide suitable transport, particularly for the younger child and therefore whether the parent was voluntarily transporting her children. There was also confusion about whether an assessment of needs had been conducted. Following a number of delays the Council confirmed it could not provide suitable transport for the eldest child. At the time of the Ombudsman’s report, there remained uncertainty about whether the Council could provide transport for the younger sibling.
The Ombudsman upheld the parent’s complaint, and identified that 2-way mileage did not equate to free transport provision. The confusion, poor communication, delays in decision-making and errors in administering process were felt to be of no fault of the parent, and had caused unnecessary hardship, anxiety, time and trouble.
The Council had accepted all the findings in the Ombudsman’s report and had taken steps to complete the recommended actions. A number of actions were required to be completed within 6 weeks of the report being published (24 July). These actions and the Council’s response were fully set out in the Committee report. In summary, the actions were:-
Action 1: Reimburse the parent for the additional journeys taken from September 2018 and pay 4-way mileage going forward.
Outcome: Completed. The client transport profile had also been adjusted to process 4-way mileage for this family for the academic year 2020/21 onwards.
Action 2: Send a letter of apology to the parent with a payment of £50 per week for each week she had transported her children to school from September 2018 – 13 March 2020, in recognition of the time, trouble and anxiety caused.
Outcome: Completed.
Action 3: Assess the younger sibling to see if the Council could provide suitable transport, and pay 4-way mileage to the parent if transport could not be provided.
Outcome: Completed. The assessment had been completed on 20July and it had been agreed that the parent would continue to transport the children to school and claim 4-way mileage. The client transport profile had been adjusted to process 4-way mileage claims.
The Ombudsman had also made a number of recommendations to be actioned within 6 months of the report being published (by 24 January 2021). Progress against these was summarised as follows:-
Action 4: Review the school transport policy and guidance to ensure that it reflected the Council’s statutory duty to provide free transport and that it stated that the Council would pay the full costs of transport to parents where it is unable to provide suitable transport. Where the Council could provide suitable transport and the parent voluntarily agreed a mileage arrangement, this would cover two legs of the journey.
Outcome: Completed. The review had been completed and the Transport Improvement Board had approved the move to 4-way mileage in cases where the Council was unable to provide transport.
Action 5: Review other parents’ and carers’ mileage arrangements. Where the Council found it was unable to provide suitable alternative transport, and as identified in this case, the arrangement was not voluntary, it should pay the mileage costs of four legs of the journey where relevant.
Outcome: Completed. For new eligible transport applicants the offer of 4-way mileage was also now in place and the website and communications information had been updated accordingly.
Action 6: Take action to address the Council’s apparent lack of suitable transport provision to ensure other children who required home to school transport were not adversely affected.
Outcome: An explanation was provided on the range of things the Council was doing to ensure suitable transport could be provided to more children. The Transport Application and Assessment process had been reviewed and updated. The Home to School Transport Policy and associated Post 16 Transport Policy Statement had been recently viewed and a public consultation on the refreshed content was scheduled for 12October, closing on 7 December 2020. It was anticipated that the offer of Personal Transport Budgets would further support families to secure the most appropriate transport provision for their child.
Action 7: The Council should report its progress to the relevant committee to ensure that elected members could monitor this. This report fulfilled this requirement.
Outcome: Completed.
Action 8: The Council should update its Local Offer on the Bucks Family Information Service to reflect the transport provision available.
Outcome: The Council was currently reviewing all its website content on transport provision and had updated the Council transport pages to ensure clarity: (https://www.buckinghamshire.gov.uk/schools-and-learning/schools-index/school-transport/). The Local Offer was also being reviewed to ensure all information was accessible to families. The planned consultation on our Home to School Transport Policy and associated Statement referred to above also aimed to make information clearer and more accessible for families.
Action 9: The Council should provide the Ombudsman with a report confirming the actions it has taken.
Outcome: On 22 September 2020 the Council had updated the Ombudsman with details regarding the completion of Actions 1 to 3, enclosing relevant evidence. The response had included clarification on how the Council had calculated the sums paid to the complainant (addressed in Actions 1 and 2). A final report would be provided to the Ombudsman once all the actions had been completed, in line with the timescales set out.
Members expressed concerns with Action 5 and commented that the Council could perhaps have been more proactive and considered offering a refund to all parents affected by the policy. The Committee was informed that, in line with the recommendation from the Ombudsman’s report, the Council had identified all parents/carers who were in receipt of 2-way mileage payments and written to them on 19 August 2020 making an offer to pay 4-way mileage from September 2020 onwards if they wished to continue with the mileage arrangements.
The Committee requested that further information on Action 5 be reported back to the next meeting in December 2020 on the options that had been considered to assess other parents / carers mileage arrangements, including any associated risks and financial implications for the Council.
RESOLVED –
(1) That the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman’s report of 24 July 2020 be noted.
(2) That the progress made in implementing the recommendations required by the report at recommendation (1) be noted.
(3) That the remaining recommendations should continue to be progressed with a view to completing them by 24 January 2021. The outstanding actions being:
(i) To review other options that had been considered to assess other parents’ and carers’ mileage arrangements, including any associated risks and financial implications for the Council. (Action 5)
(ii) To continue to work with providers via the Dynamic Purchasing System to ensure a broad range of client needs can be accommodated (Action 6)
(iii) To review and update the transport provision sections of the Local Offer (Action 8)
(iv) To provide a report to the Ombudsman once all the actions are completed (by 24 January 2021) (Action 9)
(4) That a further progress report to submitted to the Standards and General Purposes Committee on 10 December 2020, with a view to Members being able to accept and agree that they have fulfilled their requirement to monitor progress, and that any actions not yet completed will be completed in the coming months.
Supporting documents:
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