(UK) Lancs: "Staggering" cost of transporting special needs students

Feb 16, 2025, Lancashire Post: Lancashire's staggering school transport bill - and what is being done to reduce it

NW England

A fleet of new minibuses bought by Lancashire County Council to help bring down school transport costs will not come into service until October – more than a year after it was ordered.

The vehicles – believed to number around 50 – were purchased to try to stem the ballooning bill for ferrying children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) to and from their school gates.

The Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) understands the work needed to fit out the minibuses for their intended purpose has compounded what a cabinet report recently described as “long lead times for vehicle delivery” from the motor industry.

It comes as it emerged the county council’s broader budget for home-to-school transport in the current financial year was set at £55m.

The authority already has a sizeable in-house fleet of its own vehicles, but, as the LDRS revealed last year, it has become increasingly reliant on private taxis – largely because of the growth in the number of SEND children entitled to free school transport as part of their education, health and care plans (EHCPs).