(England) $216K to transport ONE SPED student last year; $2B for entire country
- Jul 11, 2025
- 1 min read
July 11, 2025, Daily Mail: Council spends almost £160,000 [$216K] a year on ferrying ONE child with special needs to school
A council spent almost £160,000 [$216,000] last year on travel for just a single child with special education needs and disabilities to and from school, new figures have revealed.
East Sussex forked out the astonishing sum in 2024 amid a huge spike in the cost of transport to specialist Send schools, which hit £1.5billion [$2B] for the country last year.
But he could not guarantee that the current system of education, health and care plans
(EHCPs), which are issued to give children specialist classroom support, would remain in place.
In a letter shared with the Guardian newspaper, campaigners have said that without the documents in mainstream schools, 'many thousands of children risk being denied vital provision, or losing access to education altogether'.
On Monday, Mr Morgan told broadcaster LBC the current system of support is 'failing children, it's failing parents'.
Asked if concerned campaigners could have no fear that Send support will be scaled back, Mr Morgan replied: 'Absolutely. What we want to do is make sure we've got a better system in place as a result of the reform that we're doing that improves outcomes for children with additional needs.'
But pressed whether the reforms could include scrapping ECHPs, Mr Morgan replied: 'We're looking at all things in the round.
'I'm not going to get into the mechanics today, but this is about strengthening support for system.'
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