Appeal a decision made about school transport | Westmorland and Furness Council

When you can appeal

You can make an appeal on the following grounds:

the transport arrangements offered
your child or children's eligibility for the transport
the distance measurement in relation to statutory walking distances
the safety of the route

All other concerns or complaints should be registered through our internal reviews and complaints procedure.

Stage 1 - Review by a Senior Manager

You have 20 working days from receipt of our home to school transport decision to make a written request asking for a review of the decision.

The written request should detail why you believe the decision should be reviewed and give details of any personal and/or family circumstances you believe should be considered when the decision is reviewed.

You should make sure your request for a review relates to one of the grounds of appeal.

Submit your appeal

Download and fill out the Stage 1 appeal form – Review by a Senior Manager (PDF, 44KB) (in appendix 1 of this document).

Return your form to the address on the appeal form or email it to us.

Integrated Home to School Transport Team
Email: school.transport@westmorlandandfurness.gov.uk

If you are not satisfied with the decision

You have 20 working days from receipt of the stage 1 written decision to make a written request to escalate the matter to stage 2.

Stage 2 – Review by an Independent Appeal Panel

You have 20 working days from receipt of the Council’s stage 1 written decision to make a written request to escalate the matter to stage 2.

The two grounds on which the Independent Appeal Panel can allow an appeal are:

That the Council has not applied its Home to School Transport Policy.
That there are compelling grounds to justify making an exception to the terms of the Council’s Home to School Transport Policy.

Submit your appeal

Download and fill out the stage 2 appeal form – Review by an Independent Appeal Panel (PDF, 39KB) (in appendix 1 of this document).

Return your form to the address on the appeal form or email it to us.

Integrated Home to School Transport Team
Email: school.transport@westmorlandandfurness.gov.uk

How your appeal is assessed by the Panel

Within 40 working days of receipt of your request, an Independent Appeal Panel (‘the Panel’) will convene to consider your appeal.

You are entitled to attend your appeal hearing and to make representations. You may be accompanied by a maximum of 2 individuals to provide you with support and/or assistance.

You will be given at least 20 working days’ notice of the appeal hearing.

Attending the appeal hearing

At this stage you will be asked to confirm if you are able to attend and who will be attending. If you fail to attend the appeal hearing without prior notification the Panel clerk will endeavour to contact you to establish the reasons for this.

Unless there are mitigating circumstances the Panel will proceed in your absence and will consider your representations based on your written submission.

Any additional representations must be submitted to the Council 10 working days prior to the appeal hearing unless there are extenuating circumstances.

The Panel will consider any documentation submitted by the above stated deadline, along with any papers submitted with your application and/or with your stage 1 review. They will also carefully consider any representations made at the appeal hearing.

The appeal hearing operates in accordance with ‘natural justice’. This means that every effort will be made to ensure the appeal hearing is fair, impartial, and as far as possible, informal and accessible.

Hearings may be recorded for the purpose of accuracy of meeting notes but will be deleted after the meeting. Permission will be sought prior to the appeal hearing if a recording is to be taken.

Who the panel will consist of

The panel will consist of the following representatives from the council who will all be independent of the original decision making process:

the chair, a council officer
two other panel members will be officers from other service areas within the council

There will be a clerk at the panel who will take a formal note of the discussion, but not take part in the decision making.

What happens on the day

The usual format of the panel will be as follows:

The chair will welcome you and introduce everyone present.
The chair will explain how the proceedings will be conducted.
The council’s representative will explain the council’s decision.
You will be given the opportunity to question the council’s representative as will the panel.
You will be given the opportunity to present your appeal. We recommend you prepare a summary of your case to assist you with this.
The panel and the council’s representative will be allowed to ask you questions.
The chair will ask you if you have raised all the issues you wanted to and give you the opportunity to sum up your case. It is important that you have told the Panel everything at this point, as there will be no further opportunity to introduce additional information at the summing up stage.
The chair will explain the decision making process.

How a decision is reached

In making their decision the panel will take into account the council’s Home to School Transport Policy, any timely information/documentation provided by you and/ or the council’s representative, along with any verbal representations you and the council’s representative make at the appeal hearing.

The panel will reach their decision and will provide you with a detailed, written notification of the outcome, within 5 working days, setting out:

the nature of the decision reached
how the review was conducted
information about other departments and/or agencies that were consulted as part of the process What factors were considered
the rationale for the decision reached.
information about your right to put the matter to the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman

Referral to Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman

The decision of the panel is final. When you receive the decision letter, if you consider that there has been a failure to comply with the procedural rules, or if you feel there are any other irregularities in the way your appeal was handled, you may have a right to refer the matter to the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman for further investigation, please see link below. Please note that this is not a further right of appeal.

For further information, read the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman website

Alternatively, you may be able to seek a Judicial Review of the decision. However, this is a complex process and it is advisable to seek legal advice prior to pursuing this route.

Further appeals

Please be aware that a further appeal will not be agreed unless there has been a significant and or exceptional change to your circumstances, and this change directly affects your application for transport.