free school transport refused, are they correct? Stressed!!!

[Icecreamcherry999]

Good morning and thanks in advance for anyone that can offer advice in this whole heap of mess! We moved in May to our new area and made a late application to the council, I had already requested a copy of the possible vacancies in the area and there were only 2 listed, one 6 miles away and another one 7.5 miles away.
Looked at the ofsteds, both were quite bad however the drive looked easier for the second than the first as motorway driving, so I reluctantly added that school to my list.
We have now recieved an offer for that school for her to start in September ( will be on waiting lists for other 3 local schools ) which I thought would happen so before I accepted I called the council to make sure my mileage would be covered as they mentioned this when I applied initially, that if the school allocated is over 2 miles they provide mileage as no public transport covers that area.
Low and behold, no they won't cover it as the school 6 miles away still has a place so we did not choose the nearest school with spaces.
What happens now? I can't afford to drive her 7.5 miles there and 7.5 miles home every day and they've said that as they've offered me one of my preferences they've fulfilled their duty.
Have got this all so wrong haven't i.

Surely your option then is to take the place at the other school and then they will cover the transport cost .

they are correct as you have rejected the closest school. Free transport is only designed to cover cases where the LEA cannot provide a closer school.

But now that place is gone! Or I would take the other one.
I didn't think it would actually come to a primary place being 6 or 7.5 miles away so just put it as they were demanding 4 choices and that one had the slightly better ofsted

Well, technically they are right but, given the closest school is still 6 miles away (and thus eligible for free transport) you would have thought they would have paid for at least that distance even though the Place accepted is further.

Yes that would be reasonable but apparently not.
So had I just put local schools and remained rigid they would have paid, for a taxi if I refused to drive, but by picking a school I can drive her to instead, not being a bloody drain on society I now won't be able to get her there anyway so she will have no school.

can you reject the place, and then reapply as an in-year admission, and see which place you get offered? That might be risky, though, if there are other children on the waiting list for the rejected school, and you might end up being sent even further away to a worse school (though would get transport). But if no-one else is waiting for the place, and you get the timing right, you might be able to reject it and then get it re-offered. I am not sure whether you'd be able to ask if there is anyone on the waiting list at the moment, though.

No apparently once they make an offer even if I reject it it then falls solely on me.
Unless you mean home school her for some time and then apply for a school however you're right, that would be very risky.
I'm just annoyed with myself as I put none of them I may have been offered this one as the closest as the other places may have gone which means they would have covered my transport but I guess I have to think the likelihood would have been there would have been spaces and then a school I wasn't happy with.
It's just annoying they haven't offered it to me and said take this or there is " school a " closer which one do you want

there must be some precise period of time where that would be in force, though - so if they say you can't reject and then immediately reapply (though I would question whether it's legal to not let you, given that you're fully aware that they don't have to offer you a closer school or one higher up your preferences or anything; you're not doing it to blackmail them into giving you what you want!). How long would you have to homeschool I wonder, before you can reapply - a term, a month, a week, a day? There must be something limit, because people can and do change their minds about things like homeschooling.

I think that it would apply for the current year. If the OP has applied for a year R place, say, then the council has fulfilled its obligation to offer a year R place. Next year, the OP would be applying for a year 1 place, so the council would be obligated to find a year 1 space.

What year group are you applying for? If it's a junior place you could have a reasonable chance of success at appeal.

I'd be surprised if there was an absolute limit for actually rejecting and then reapplying, though, because people do things like (for example) rejecting a place to homeschool, then finding that financial arrangements aren't going to work, and they need to request a place again. Or they reject a place under the misapprehension that this will force the council to give them one of their offers, and then when they find out that won't happen, they reapply and get given a school further away than the original - but they still get one. Or people who reject their current places, move abroad for a term, and then come back and have to be given somewhere, even if it's far away. So for them to say that there is an absolute time limit on when/how often you can reject and then apply for a place (with the understanding that it will likely be further away and less desirable that the place you turned down, or the same place again). I guess whether or not they then have to give you transport to that place might be subject to a specific rule, but it sounds tenuous, given that there are lots of good reasons why you might have intended to homeschool and thus rejected the place, but have to go back on that deal.

However I am sure the experts will know what rules and timelines apply, and I also know that what seems sensible to those of us on the outside is often not how it works in reality!

Yes I wonder that too
I will call Monday to see what they say although I have been trying to get through since Wednesday and it's constantly engaged.
It was reception I was applying for.
Just seems so silly over a mile, when I would happily do the journey so that she could start school in September like everyone else.
I'm not fighting for a school on my doorstep, a religious school ( even though we are catholic ) or even a school with a good ofsted!

I used to sit on appeals panels and I think that unless there has been a material change in circumstances, the council will say that they have fulfilled their obligation for this academic year.

Perhaps an appropriate compromise would be for the council to offer to pay mileage up to the 6 mile limit as this was technically the nearest school?

But the council has no need to compromise. They are not legally required to provide free transport. If they did do this for the OP they would also have to provide funding for any other parent in a similar situation.