Post-16 education transport for young people with SEND

Overview

Like other authorities across the country, the council is facing very significant financial pressures. The council’s budget is in crisis due to years of government austerity, rising costs of adult social care, more children being looked after by the council and an increase in homeless families.

The local authority does not have any statutory duty to provide free post-16 SEND transport, and receives no funding from central government to do so. It is something that needs to be funded through local taxation.

The demand for this service is increasing and the budget in this area is overspent. For the 2023/2024 academic year the cost for discretionary Post 16 SEND transport in Leicester exceeded £4 million. It is early in the 2024/2025 academic year and projections based on current levels of service are unreliable. A new system for taxi procurement was developed which may mean a reduction in some of the costs. However, the budget for 2024/2025 is projected to be over £13m in 2024/2025, with an unbudgeted overspend of over £1.5m.

The council is therefore proposing to make changes to the way Post-16 SEND transport is provided. The proposals include the general withdrawal of support for Post-16 transport for the academic year 2025/26.

There are significant changes proposed in the draft Children and Young People with SEND Home to School and College Travel Policy which would affect post 16 SEND transport provision. The proposals are mirrored in the draft Post-16 Transport Policy Statement. The proposed changes reflect the general proposal to withdraw support for post-16 transport and set out where exceptions will be made to this. In line with the general withdrawal of support, the proposed ‘exceptional circumstances’ would apply in limited cases, and in those instances, it is proposed that transport assistance would be in the form of a personal transport budget.

The proposed policies for 2025/26 and the current ones are attached below as supporting documents (PDFS). You can also read the current Post-16 policy statement on families.leicester.gov.uk/post-16-transport-policy

We understand the proposed changes are likely to have a significant impact on young people and their families, in that the proposals have the potential to:

• result in increased pressure on parents and carers and have an adverse impact on families’ lives.
• affect some young people who have started courses and may now need to find alternate transport arrangements for the 2025/2026 academic year.
• mean that some young people stop attending education or training and possibly become NEET (Not in Education, Employment or Training). This is proven to affect their future life chances.

It’s important that we hear from of all those who would be affected by the proposals. We urge everyone with a view to have their say here.