Leicestershire families win compensation after challenging school transport provision

The local government ombudsman Jane Martin said the council’s decision not to provide transport to the children concerned, was “the result of a fundamentally flawed decision making process”.

The council had decided that the children should walk to school, because they lived within three miles away.

But Martin ruled that the council failed to properly assess the safety of the children’s walking routes, because it did not consider street lighting, the condition of the route throughout the year or central government guidance on the issue.

Six of the families involved appealed the council’s decision and one further parent questioned a lack of consultation by the local authority.

The ombudsman agreed that the council had failed to consider the parents’ views. She also criticised the council for causing unnecessary uncertainty among parents about how their children would travel to school.

Martin noted that Leicestershire County Council has since amended its home to school transport policy and reassessed most of the routes involved, but she warned that one route had still not been assessed and that the council has not written to families to tell them of the outcome of their reassessments.

In addition the council has still not offered advice to families on how to challenge its decisions, Martin said.

The council has been asked to apologise to the families involved as well as pay them £100 each.

A Leicestershire County Council spokeswoman said the local authority had already acted on many of the ombudsman’s recommendations.

“As a result of this investigation we have already reviewed and introduced a revised home to school transport walking route assessment policy,” she said. ?“Two of the routes in question have been reassessed and remain as available walking routes.”