Changes to Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) School Transport Service

Overview

In the last 2 years the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) transport service has seen its costs double, and since 2020 the cost to provide travel assistance has almost quadrupled.  In that same time the average cost per pupil receiving assistance from the service has more than doubled and the average cost per route commissioned by the service has risen by over £6,000.

We don’t receive any additional funding from government in relation to SEND transport so the costs that are incurred are fully borne by Council.

We know the financial pressures we feel are because:

• There are more pupils requesting travel assistance from our transport service,
• Parents requesting assistance tend to prefer private hire taxi as opposed to other forms of assistance,
• An increasing proportion of pupils being transported have complex needs and as such can only be transported on their own,
• The availability of private hire taxis is reducing with fewer vehicles, drivers, and passenger assistants offering their service and bidding for the routes we commission.

As well as financial pressure, we are increasingly concerned about how difficult it is becoming to get private hire taxi contractors to bid on routes we commission. In the past 12 months we have had 5 route contracts terminated as a consequence of recruitment and retention issues related to drivers and passenger assistants. The instances where only one or no contractor bids in a selection process when we commission a new route are increasing.

Stockport is not unique and this mix of challenges and pressures exists almost universally in local authorities across the country. The Department for Education are currently listening to views of stakeholders in a national conversation about SEND services including transport however there is no suggestion that either the legal duties of a local authority will change or that local authorities will receive funding for this service.

We recognise how important home to school transport is to pupils and families and at its most basic level is a way to facilitate access to education, skills, and independence for later life. We have reached a point where we know we need to do something as the financial pressures, logistical considerations, and fundamentally the capacity of contractors cannot sustain further increases.

We are wanting to engage with our residents, our SEND families, our schools, our transport contractors, and other interested parties about specific proposals that reduces our service offering down to what is required by us through legislation.

This consultation specifically focuses on

• revising our post-16 policy to make it clear what travel arrangements we will offer and in what circumstance, and
• changing the way we procure contracts with private hire contractors.