Council attempting to ensure ‘efficient use of resources’ as home to school transport bill tops £5.5m

Council officers are “pushing back” and challenging some requests for home to school transport support amid concern over the rapidly increasing multi-million pound bill.

Redcar and Cleveland Council told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) that it spent an overall sum of £5.59m in 2022/23, having arranged transport for a total of 1,689 children to get to school each day.

Annual spending on home to school transport has been on the rise for the past several years in line with an increasing number of youngsters issued with education, health and care plans.

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These are legal documents for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) which oblige local authorities to set out – and provide – the help they require for their education and the formal outcomes intended. There were approximately 1,400 of these in existence in Redcar and Cleveland in the last financial year, a figure which has doubled since 2015/16.

The spiralling bill for home to school transport hasn’t been helped also by an increase in fuel costs and other costs that have been pushed up by inflation such as wages.

A presentation for councillors seen by the LDRS described a home to school transport panel that meets weekly to make decisions over support offered to parents and carers “challenging criteria”. It said there was “push back” to schools who requested passenger assistants for their pupils on journeys, another cost.

Meanwhile, parents were being offered help to pay their own mileage costs – as an alternative to the local authority providing transport – as a “cost effective” alternative. The council’s external auditor Veritau, which carries out counter-fraud work, had also been engaged to “report on policy and adherence”.

Councils have a legal duty to assist with travel arrangements for children aged five to 16 who have conditions meaning they could not be reasonably expected to walk to school. This can be either by providing funding, a public transport permit, or putting on a mini-bus, people carrier or taxi.

Children are eligible if they fulfil certain criteria with some at the same time being sent to specialist schools outside of Redcar and Cleveland, because of insufficient provision in the borough, adding to the expense.

In line with other local authorities, Redcar and Cleveland Council pays for taxis to make some journeys with recent analysis by the Northern Agenda politics newsletter showing 348 children are being sent to school by taxi at a cost of £54,704 a week, which over the course of a year equates to more than £2.8m.

In a statement, Councillor Luke Myer, the cabinet member for children at the council, said: “Our special educational needs team works incredibly hard with children and young people, their families, schools and other professionals to ensure that students’ needs are met in the nearest suitable school or college.

“For many of our children getting them to and from school is a lifeline to them and their families.

“Our priority is meeting students’ needs, whilst ensuring efficient use of resources. We regularly review our procedures to see how the service can improve and reduce costs, for example we look at ways passengers can share taxis, and we offer independent travel training for students who we feel would benefit.

“We compare favourably with other councils, spending less per week than the majority of local authorities in the region.”

A spokesman for the council said all applications for transport were submitted to the transport panel, who either agreed or disagreed to provide assistance in line with its home to school transport policy.

Contractors providing external transport needed to be part of a procurement framework and work was advertised on a portal before being awarded to the lowest bidder. The spokesman added: “The council uses a variety of transport options including taxis, minibuses, wheelchair accessible seat buses and medium and large coaches for children who have many different needs.

“Under special circumstances the council also meets the cost of Arriva and school bus passes for children, as well as the mileage of parents taking their children to schools outside of their catchment area.”

The council said a total of 256 routes were catered for across all modes of transport, while 77 bus passes were also paid for in 2022/23.

The Local Government Association, which represents local councils, also acknowledged that free school transport was a “lifeline” for many pupils and their families. But a spokesman said: “It must be adequately funded, if councils are to meet their legal duties to all children and young people.”

Una Summerson, head of policy and campaigns at the charity Contact, which supports families with disabled children, said school transport was one of the top issues its helpline gets calls about. She said: “School transport is an integral part of a child’s education.

“If a child can’t get to school, or has such a stressful experience getting to school, then they are not able to learn and take part in the school day like other children.

“A taxi to school is often the most suitable type of transport for a child that might struggle on a school bus due to their disabilities.

“The law says that a child with special educational needs, a disability or mobility problems that would prevent them walking to their nearest suitable school must get free transport help regardless of distance. However some local authorities are trying to cut corners to save money and applying the distance criteria which is for all children, rather than assessing each child’s needs individually.”

The Department for Education said it was for local councils to decide how they arranged free travel for eligible children.