Agenda item

To consider an appeal lodged in connection with the provision of assistance for home to school transport. (This item contains personal information regarding the appellant, which is exempt from publication by virtue of Paragraph 1 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972).

The Committee considered a request to review the decision of the Council to not provide assistance with home to school transport in respect of A.M.

Ms D Goodall (Legal Advisor) was in attendance to advise the Committee on procedure and policy only and had taken no part in the original decision. Also in attendance was Mrs J Cook, Clerk to the Committee.

The relevant Head of Service presented the case on behalf of the Authority and advised the Committee of the reasons why the child had not been awarded home to school transport. The relevant Head of Service advised the Committee that the child’s special guardian had applied for transport on 27 July 2023 as part of the standard reapplication process. This was refused as it did not meet the Transport Policy 2018. The Special Guardian had appealed this decision and a Transport Panel had been convened to consider the appeal at Stage 1 of the process.

The Transport Panel, whilst sympathetic to the Special Guardian’s circumstances and having consulted the relevant qualified officers, in particular the SEND Officer, agreed with the original decision that the child’s circumstances fell outside of the Transport Policy and upheld the original decision not to award home to school transport.

The Special Guardian had appealed at Stage 2 of the process and the appeal was now with the Committee for consideration. The relevant Head of Service advised the Committee that his role had been to ensure that the Transport Policy had been properly followed and applied. In this instance he confirmed that he was of the opinion that the policy had been applied in relation to this child’s case and stated that the circumstances outlined by the Special Guardian, whilst difficult, did not fall under the policy and therefore did not entitled the child to be awarded home to school transport. The relevant Head of Service confirmed that the child had been placed in the most suitable school and that there was a reasonable expectation that parents or guardians/special guardians should be able to transport

The Special Guardian was not in attendance at the Committee and had consented to the appeal being heard in her absence. The Committee considered the Special Guardian’s case and the information submitted in relation to their family circumstances and to the specific examples given in relation to the child’s additional needs and behaviour.

The Committee considered the evidence supplied by both parties and while it considered that the policy had been followed and the application dealt with correctly. It considered it there were circumstances notably that no evidence had been provided that the application had been considered in conjunction with an updated Education Health and Care Plan (EHCP). The Committee also noted that the Transport Policy 2018 specified physical age but made no mention of mental ages of children.

RESOLVED:

That the home to school transport be granted for the remainder of the school year 2023/2024 (unless circumstances change) on the grounds of exceptional circumstances.