Council to pay family £5.8k over school transport failures
SEND student missed out on education due to transport access issues
The council has been ordered to pay thousands to a Northamptonshire family after failing to provide school transport to a student who has special educational needs and disability (SEND).
The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGSCO) said the student, referred to as Mr Z in the report, missed out on his education and a range of specialist support he was entitled to because he was not supported to access his place of education.
He eventually decided he no longer wished to attend his college after waiting for council-arranged transport for over a year and becoming “frustrated” with the lack of support.
North Northamptonshire Council (NNC) has said it is making changes to its home-to-school transport, which it anticipates will reduce the risk of similar issues repeating. It has accepted the LGSCO’s findings and extended its “sincerest apologies” to the family.
A report published by the local government watchdog said that in October 2024, a SEND Tribunal found that the student, Mr Z, should attend an educational setting and decided it would be a reasonable adjustment for the council to provide his transport, given his needs.
In February 2025, the council told his mother, referred to as Mrs X, that she needed to apply for transportation. She said it took 13 weeks for the application to be processed, and that she was informed of different reasons for the failure to provide transportation.
In response to a complaint about the lack of provision, NNC agreed to arrange taxi service transport for the start of the academic year in September 2025. However, Mrs X said the council failed to do this and her son decided he no longer wished to attend college at the end of the year.
The ombudsman report wrote that it found fault with the authority’s failure to arrange transport for the student, which directly resulted in Mr Z being unable to attend his educational setting.
It explained that this caused him “injustice” because he was not able to receive the education and the extra support, including Speech and Language Therapy (SALT), Occupational Therapy and physiotherapy, that he was entitled to in his EHCP. The investigator also considered that the needs set out in his care plan were “high”.
It ordered the council to provide a written apology to the family for the “unnecessary and avoidable distress” and to pay them £5,800 for the failure to provide suitable provision from the winter term of 2024 through to the winter term of 2025.
The Ombudsman has also recently recommended improvements to NNC’s service on the setting up of provision and SALT provision following the issuing of an EHC Plan.
A North Northamptonshire Council spokesperson said: “We accept the findings and recommendations made by the LGSCO and would like to extend our sincerest apologies to both the family and the child for the failings in the delivery of the child’s education during what must have been an extremely difficult time. We recognise that we have fallen short of the performance our families have a right to expect of us.
“We are continuing to work with the family, to ensure that the child receives education which best suits their needs.
“As a local authority, we are making long‑term, sustainable changes – particularly to home-to-school transport – which we anticipate will help to reduce the risk of similar issues arising again and will lead to improved experiences and outcomes for children, young people, and their families.
“Alongside system-wide improvements, we are committed to working with our partners – and parents – to ensure every child and young person with SEND receives the support they need to thrive.”