West Berkshire Council at fault over child’s bus pass

West Berkshire Council has been told to pay more than £1,000 in compensation by the Local Government Ombudsman – due to confusion over a child’s bus pass.

Ms B shares care of her daughter C with C’s father, Mr D on a 50:50 basis.

In April 2022 the council approved her application for free transport from her address for C to get to school.

In April 2024 Mr D applied for a free bus pass for C from his house.

The council initially refused the application, but following a successful appeal it granted him the free bus pass.

The ombudsman said the council did not consider where C spent most of her time but assumed that Mr D’s address was C’s main residence.

On August 8, 2024, the council wrote to Ms B informing her that it was removing her free bus pass due to Mr D’s successful appeal from his address.

Ms B contacted the council about this decision.

The council replied saying that the main residence was usually the address from which the original school application was made, unless there has been a change of address that necessitated a re-evaluation of transport eligibility.

It acknowledged the question of shared care should have been identified earlier by both parties.

It requested evidence to support the shared care arrangement.

Otherwise, the decision would remain as found in Mr D’s appeal; he would receive the free bus pass.

Ms B submitted an appeal against the decision to remove her bus pass and made a formal complaint to the council.

The local authority’s school transport policy says in respect of shared care arrangements where parents are separated or divorced, entitlement is assessed from the home where the child spends the majority of their time.

Where a child spends equal amounts of school days with each parent, travelling from two addresses to school, entitlement will be assessed from both addresses and evidence may be required.

The council has accepted fault in the way it dealt with the duplicate applications for a bus pass in 2022 and 2024.

The fault also meant Ms B had to significantly change C’s living arrangements because Ms B could not afford to pay £990 for a bus pass from this address.

This caused distress and inconvenience to both Ms B and C for which the compensation has been offered.