The government’s delayed white paper on SEND must address the costs of home to school transport, as financial pressures on local authorities continue to rise, according to a new report.
The National Audit Office found that councils were struggling to meet legal duties to provide transportation, as increasingly numbers of children needed to travel further afield to have their needs met.
More than half a million children and young people up to the age of 25 now receive council-funded transport from home to school and college, putting councils £415 million over budget.
Of the 470,000 children under 16 who benefit, about 40% – 180,000 – have SEND costing an average of £8,116 per child, compared with £1,526 for their peers. One of the reasons for the disparity is because they often travel further and in single-occupancy taxis.
The NAO said home-to-school transport was one of the fastest growing areas of local authority spending. Councils must provide free transport for school-age children who cannot walk to their nearest suitable school due to distance, SEND, or safety concerns.
The growing bill means many councils were removing discretionary transport from some young people, making it harder for them to attend post-16 settings.
Gareth Davies, head of the NAO, said: “Local authorities are making savings to meet their statutory duties, but they are looking to the Department for Education’s upcoming SEND reforms to ensure the long-term sustainability of home-to-school transport.”
Councils are spending more on school transport than Sure Start centres, youth services and family services combined
Pepe Di’Iasio, the general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said he was concerned that the national conversation about children with SEND has become focused on cost. “We have to put the needs of these youngsters first and ensure that the SEND system and associated costs are sufficiently funded both now and in the future,” he added.
Bill Revans, SEND spokesperson for the County Councils Network, said: “Councils in county areas are now spending more on school transport than they are on Sure Start centres, youth services and family services combined. This is unsustainable.”
He said a key element of government SEND reforms should be “enabling greater inclusion in mainstream schools so they can better cater for more SEND pupils’ needs, allowing them to be taught locally and reducing the reliance on specialist placements whilst cutting transport costs for local authorities.”
A Department for Education spokesperson said: “Work is already under way to make sure more children with SEND can achieve and thrive at their local school alongside their peers – including investing £740m to create more specialist school places and increasing access to early support for speech and language needs.
“We’ll set out the full schools white paper in the new year, building on the work we’ve already done to create a system that’s rooted in inclusion, where children receive high-quality support early on and at a school close to home.”
