Derby City Council has been told to apologise to three families for mishandling their school transport applications.

An investigation by the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman found the families met the council’s criteria for transport support, but were not provided with sufficient allowances to subsidise the costs of their children’s school journeys.

Due to the council’s errors, one of the mothers could not afford a taxi for her child and gave up work to drive them to school, whilst another family was underpaid in taxi costs by over £11,800 per year.

Another family had no option but to drop their child at school late and pick them up early, meaning their child with special educational needs missed essential provisions in their Education, Health and Care Plan.

Following the investigations, the Ombudsman told the council to apologise to the families and pay reparations to compensate them for the trouble, as well as repaying the mileage expenses and costs of missed school attendance.

The Ombudsman also urged all councils to avoid adopting a ‘one size fits all’ approach when processing families’ transport support applications.

Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman, Ms Amerdeep Somal commented: ‘Councils must demonstrate they have considered the options offered to individual families, who are entitled to transport support, that actually provide a practical, safe and affordable solution to allow them to attend.’

Cllr Paul Hezelgrave, Derby City Council Cabinet Member for Children, Young People and Skills, said: ‘While the Council is unable to comment on individual cases, we accept the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman’s findings in these three cases and have taken swift action to implement all recommendations set out in the report.’