Feb 2, 2024, Leicester Mercury: Leicester SEND parents and carers 'in shock' over home-to-school transport decision
Travel support for young people aged 16 to 19 years with special educational needs and disabilities will be withdrawn at the end of the current academic year
E. Midlands
Families with children and young adults aged 16 and over with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) have been left questioning how their children will get to school after Leicester City Council said it is scrapping its home-to-school transport. A letter from the council, dated Tuesday, January 16, advised parents and carers that travel support for young people aged 16 to 19 years would be withdrawn at the end of the current academic year.
Currently, these young people are provided with council-funded transport if they have been offered a school placement by the local authority which is more than 3 miles from their home. The letter to affected households states the decision to remove the support was made in 2022 following a consultation, with a two-year transitional period in place for other arrangements to be made and provisions still available in some exceptional circumstances.
But on hearing the news, some took to social media to say the letter received this month was the first they had heard of the changes. Some also said they were worried about getting their children to school in the next academic year….
"My child has severe learning difficulties and autism, they have no road sense and cannot use public transport on their own. If transport is withdrawn how am I going to get them to school?"
The end of the service comes as the city council is facing a financial cliff's edge and has warned it could have to file a Section 114 notice within 18 months - essentially declaring it bankrupt. Councillor Vi Dempster, assistant city mayor for education, said "massive" Government funding cuts and "huge rises" in social care costs mean the council was having to look at whether it needs to make savings in "every service that is not a statutory responsibility". A statutory responsibility is one the council is legally bound to provide. Coun Dempster added a two-year transition period had been extended until the end of this academic year to give parents longer to prepare.
Post-16 transport is only a statutory requirement when it is included in a young person's education health and care plan (EHCP) - a legally binding document setting out the additional assistance that person needs - or if that transport is deemed necessary to enable them to get to their place of education, the authority said. It added that there are only a small number of young people in the city who meet that criteria and the council is contacting them separately to discuss ongoing support.
The council said it may, in "exceptional circumstances", provide travel assistance for students older than 16 who have complex SEND needs which affect their ability to travel, if they meet certain criteria. This includes the student having additional needs or a disability that places them or others at a 'serious risk of danger during the journey to and from school,' if the student has a mobility difficulty which requires 'specialised seating or a specialised vehicle, e.g. tail-lift access', or is likely to require medical intervention or personal care during the journey to and from school, according to a draft of the new policy. The complexity of the journey will also be taken into account.
Some parents asked on social media whether they would be getting a personal transport budget - a payment that helps parents of SEN children assessed as eligible to receive Home-to-School transport - instead. LeicestershireLive put this question to the local authority, but did not get an answer.
The Leicester City Parent Carer Forum (LCPCF) - a group which represents the city of Leicester within the national network of parent carer forums of SEND children and young people - alerted parents to the news on Facebook. It added the forum, which is funded by the Department for Education and Leicester City Council, had not co-produced the letter nor had been consulted on the changes.
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