Issue - meetings

Background:

This report provided details of two remaining recommendations from the Local Government Ombudsman (LGO) in response to a complaint. These were:

·       Reimburse the parent for the actual home to school travel assistance cost incurred for the academic year 2016/17 together with interest based upon the increase in the Retail Price Index from September 2017; and

·       Amend the Education Travel Assistance Policy to take into consideration the availability of places where the applicant applied for the nearest school at the time of the original admission application regardless of preference rank.

The report explained that the compensatory payment to the parent for the 2016/17 academic year of £775.00 had been paid from the Mainstream Home to School Transport budget.

The report provided details of proposed amendments to Education Travel Assistance Policy (previously the Home to School Transport Policy) which were set out in detail at section 4 and Appendix 1 to the report.

The report stated that although this was a policy change, a Diversity Impact Assessment was not completed as the changes to the Policy were proposed upon recommendation from the LGO, and with no consultation required, would be deemed to be a positive change for pupils and parents.

Reasons:

The decision will ensure that the policy is compliant with the LGO recommendations and the Department for Education guidance.