Coventry council ordered to change unfair school transport policy

The authority said the error was not intentional, but accepted the findings by the Ombudsman



Coventry City Council has been ordered to amend its school transport policy after an ombudsman found it wrongly denied a dad the right to a fair hearing in order “to speed up the process and save money”.

The problem was uncovered after a man complained he had not been given a fair hearing when he appealed against the council’s decision not to offer his daughter free transport to secondary school.

An investigation by the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman found the council was at fault as its policy did not meet statutory guidelines.

The council was not allowing parents the chance to attend the hearing or make verbal representations at the appeal panel stage, only offering written evidence.

Statutory guidance issued by the government in 2014 states panels should consider both written and verbal representations to allow for “transparency; natural justice and the opportunity for all parties to ask questions”.

The council “provided no cogent reasons” for not following guidance, the Ombudsman said.

Investigators said the verbal appeals process “appears to have been sacrificed to speed up the process and save money”, which could “cause an injustice” to parents.

Coventry City Council has now agreed to apologise to the father, offer him a fresh appeal, and amend its school transport appeals procedure to comply with statutory guidance.

Michael King, from the Ombudsman, said: “The council appears to have made the decision to depart from statutory guidance to speed up the process and save money: these are not valid or acceptable reasons to depart from statutory guidance.

“Denying the right to make verbal representations could disadvantage parents, particularly those who cannot express themselves as well in writing as they might in person."

The city council said the error in its policy was “unintentional”.

Yeah, right!

They only listen to them selves in my experience.