England: $2.4B/yr for special ed. taxis; $2.9B in next 3 yrs
- The end of childhood
- Apr 19
- 2 min read
April 15, 2025, inews: My autistic child spends 1.5 hours a day in taxis - the council is failing us
Elizabeth Wickes feels 'lucky' that her daughter Emily can go to a private school for autistic children, which the council pays £50,000 [$66,000] per year for her to attend
When their daughter Emily started struggling in school, Elizabeth and Matthew Wickes were advised to look for a special school that could cater to her needs.
Finding a good school in Suffolk that could help Emily, who has autism, dyslexia, dyspraxia and dyscalculia, proved impossible.
They ended up applying for funding from the council, which paid for her to attend a private school for autistic children in Cambridge. The fees are around £50,000 a year.
To get there, Emily now travels 90 minutes a day – 45 minutes each way – in a taxi funded by the council.
The 14-year-old is among children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) who travel far from home to special schools run by private providers. The current taxi bill is £1.8bn [$2.4B] a year and projected to rise to £2.2bn [$2.9B] in the next three years.
Bridget Phillipson , the Education Secretary, told The i Paper the costs are “extraordinary”and children are travelling considerable distances away from their friends, family and local community.
Emily, who has autism, dyslexia, dyspraxia and dyscalculia, has been travelling 90 minutes a day to and from school.
Bridget Phillipson said she wanted more children with SEND to attend mainstream schools to cut down on costs. She hinted that private providers face profit-limiting controls and that more funding for state-run provision may be needed closer to home.
The Wickes family, who live in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, agree that a lack of local options is a significant problem.
“It’s a complex system, and it’s very expensive,” said Ms Wickes. “Since 2019 we’ve been told by Suffolk County [Council] that they want to build more schools, and yet they haven’t.
“They’re failing SEND children in this local authority, and unfortunately, it is taxpayers who are having to pick up that tab and send these children and pay for taxis. . . .
But having schools closer to home is unlikely to eliminate the need for taxis completely, because some children with SEND need to travel alone and have complex needs, she said.
The fees for schools like Emily’s are huge, but they provide a lot of support. “These schools charge a lot of money because they need the staff, they need the experts, they need people who are specially trained,” Ms Wickes said. . . .
“We’re one of the lucky ones. I feel so badly for the parents who desperately need a place and who are not getting it.”
Emily’s class has one teacher and two teaching assistants, with only seven other pupils in it.
When she was struggling in her mainstream school, close to the family’s previous home in Clare, Suffolk, the school recommended that her parents apply to the council for an education, health and care plan (EHC), which would mean getting funding for specialist support. . . .
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