Post-16 Transport Policy Statement 2022/23

The Council has a 2 stage review process for parents/carers who wish to challenge a decision about:

• exceptional circumstances that the parent/carer believes should be considered as to why transport should be provided for their child, if the child is not entitled to Council funded transport in accordance with this Policy
• the decision made by the Council not to award a child Council funded home to school transport

The appeal process is to challenge the above areas. If you have a concern about how the arrangements are being delivered, you should contact the Client Transport Team in the first instance. If your concern is unable to be resolved you should use the complaints process.

If you are in financial hardship and are concerned about the annual fee, please see section 6.4 on help with travel costs.

Parents/carers have 20 working days to request a review of our decision about home to school transport. Parents should write to us, detailing why the decision should be reviewed, giving details of any personal/family circumstances and including any supporting evidence to be considered.

The decision will be reviewed by a senior officer or via the Transport Exceptions Panel. Within 20 working days of receipt of this letter parents will be advised in writing of the appeal decision.

Parents/carers have 20 working days from the receipt of our Stage 1 written decision notification to make a written request to escalate the matter to Stage 2. Within 40 working days of receipt of the parents/carers request, an Independent Appeal Panel will consider written and verbal representations from both the parent/carer and officers involved in the case and will give a detailed written notification of the outcome within 5 working days of the panel meeting.

The Independent Appeal Panel is made up of trained volunteers who have experience of transport issues. These volunteers are independent of the Council.

Parents/carers can complain to the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman only if they consider that:

• there was a failure to comply with the procedural rules
• if there are any other irregularities in the way the appeal has been handled For further information please contact the Admissions team.