Council reported to Ombudsman over student ‘cut-off’ from education

Alec Doyle, Local Democracy Reporter 

A council is being taken to the Ombudsman after refusing to help a sixth-form student living in a remote location, who has been cut-off from school transportation.

Having paid to use the school bus during his first term under Wrexham Council’s concession receipts scheme, the 16-year-old student has now has been barred from using the bus.

It is the only one that passes through the village every day to take high school pupils to the Maelor School – the nearest school to his home. There is no other public transport option to get him from the village to school on weekdays.

Public Service Vehicles Accessibility Regulations (PSVAR) mean he can no longer use the service as he is in post-16 education and the buses in question are not wheelchair accessible – despite him not requiring a wheelchair. Statutory school transport is exempt from accessibility requirements but buses used for post-16 transport must be accessible.

Mum Debbie Edwards has now reported the council to the Public Services Ombudsman for Wales due to the disproportionate impact that the blanket  legislation has had on her son alone.

“The response of the council has been awful,” she said. “It doesn’t address the inequality my son specifically faces compared to other learners in the county when it comes to accessing education.

“It also stated that I have contacted the transport department and requested a refund for the time I have already paid for that he has been unable to use the bus – this is not true.

“It also says the team at Wrexham Council has taken steps to mitigate the issues that we face, including offering help and advice on sourcing public transport.

“I have written to the team twice for help in sourcing public transport with no response.”

Deputy leader of Wrexham Council – and the authority’s Lead Member for Strategic Transport Cllr Dave Bithell – said that the council stood by its decision.

“It’s quite simple really,” he said. “It’s difficult for one individual, but the reality is because of the regulations with the bus network, we can’t offer concession receipts. So that’s stopped.

“The reality is we don’t provide transport to post-16. Post-16 was ceased back in 2014. So that, as far as I know, is the position of the council.

“Other authorities don’t provide it. We have provided it. Unfortunately the law says we can’t charge for concession receipts, so that’s what the law says and we have had legal advice to support that.”

Her son even asked Welsh Government Transport Secretary Ken Skates MS directly about the problem. According to Debbie the Minister agreed to escalate the situation to ministerial colleagues.

However when approached to comment on the situation Mr Skates said: “While there are no simple solutions we are determined to use every lever at our disposal, from the changes in how bus services are planned and delivered, to targeted investment.

“This includes the £22 million we have invested in supporting the Young Persons £1 fare scheme, to make learner travel more accessible, affordable, and safe for all.

“Local authorities are responsible for the provision of learner travel, and we will continue to work with them. PSVAR is a non-devolved piece of legislation and therefore remains the responsibility of the UK Government.

“We continue to engage with the UK Government to try find a solution to this issue as we are seeing an increasing number of local authorities withdrawing their discretionary spare seat scheme in favour of PSVAR exemptions which are due to come to expire at the end of July.”

When asked to comment on the proportionality of legislation having a negative effect on a single pupil, Mr Skates said: “It would not be appropriate for us to discuss individual cases.

“The UK Government has undertaken a review of the PSVAR2000 regulation and we await the outcome of this exercise.

“While the individual decisions on how existing PSVAR2000 exemptions are applied remain with local authorities, we continue to engage with the UK Government on this matter, assessing the impact of the unintended consequences of the regulation.”

Debbi added: “What use is a Young Persons fare scheme when there is no bus to pay a fare on.

“I am making sure that he is attending school by taking unpaid leave but unfortunately it comes at the expense of my own health. Trying to juggle this and work has caused increased stress and that should not be the case.”