Council refused transport for special needs child

A council has agreed to review its school transport policy after a watchdog criticised the way it considered a family's application for travel support for their child with special needs.

Sandwell Council received the application in relation to a boy who attended a school more than three miles away from his home.

The school was the only one the council identified in his Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP).

However, the council turned down the parents' request for travel support and their subsequent appeal.

The appeal was turned down because the council said it had only agreed to name the parents’ preferred school in the boy’s EHCP on the understanding they had accepted responsibility for transport.

As a consequence of this, the boy's family have had to take him to and from school since August 2023.

An investigation by the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman found that the council did not follow the correct procedure when deciding whether school transport should be provided.

Only one school was named in the boy’s EHCP, becoming his "nearest suitable school" and so the boy should qualify for transport funding.

The investigation also found fault with the way the council handled the parents’ appeal, failing to keep any records of the hearing.

Furthermore, the appeal panel failed to consider whether there was a suitable school with places available nearer to the boy’s home, and did not give the parents the opportunity to attend the hearing.

A Sandwell Council spokesperson said: "We acknowledge the findings of the ombudsman and apologise to the family for the distress this matter has caused them.

"We confirm that the actions, as set out in the ombudsman report, are already underway and we will be in touch with the family to send a formal apology and to make arrangements for payments.

"Transport to and from school is now being provided to the child and has been in place since the start of this school year."

The council said it was seeing a significant increase in demand for support for children with special educational needs and disabilities, with a 51% increase in the number of children with an EHCP since 2019.

"We have already commenced a review of our services so that we can provide the best possible support to children and their parents and carers, and will incorporate the points raised by the ombudsman’s report into this work," the spokesperson added.

Ombudsman Amerdeep Somal said: "Councils must provide help or transport for children to attend their nearest available school with places, if it is more than the set distance away from home. This distance will depend on the child’s age.

"In this case, the boy could only attend the school identified in his EHC Plan, and the council should therefore have made suitable home-to-school travel arrangements for him. But it did not do so."

She added: "Case law has been quite clear on this subject for more than 10 years, and in 2023 clear statutory guidance was issued on this topic, so there is really no excuse now for councils to get these sorts of decisions wrong.

"I am pleased the council has agreed to look again at its policy, and hope this will make things more transparent for both staff and parents in future.”

Sandwell Council will make a payment to the mother to reflect the cost of transporting her son to school, while paying a symbolic £100 to the father for the "time and trouble of making the complaint", the ombudsman said.

The council is to arrange staff training for decision-makers and appeal panel members.

It will also review the action taken when parents’ preferences are incompatible with "efficient use of resources", the ombudsman said.

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