Used Cerebra, IPSEA, SOS!SEN and Contact.
We have heard from many parents about the difficulties they experience trying to secure SEND transport from home to school for their children with an EHCP, particularly once they turn 16. Many LAs are introducing or already have implemented charges for travel after the age of 16, but this can make it too costly and impossible for some families to get their young people to their (often hard-earned) placements.
Last year Eleanor Wright from SOSSEN wrote to us about the government’s updates to home to school transport guidance and the concerns she had. The guidance has since been amended slightly but concerns remain. SOSSEN worked with other charities Cerebra, IPSEA and Contact to research experiences of SEND transport and measure the impact of the changes.
Tell us about your home to school SEND transport experiences with Cerebra, SOSSEN, IPSEA and Contact
We have previously raised concerns about the Department for Education’s revised school transport guidance, Getting children of compulsory school age to school: statutory guidance for local authorities (see previous posts on the Special Needs Jungle and Cerebra websites). To find out more about the impact of the revised guidance, we are asking families to complete a short school transport survey.
When the Department for Education published its updated guidance on 25 January 2024, we hoped it would address some of our concerns. On the positive side, the guidance no longer recommends that parents record in a formal letter their agreement to pay for transport to the school of their choice (which would prevent the parent from challenging the arrangement in a tribunal). However, the Department for Education did not amend the guidance to say that parents must accompany their child with a disability.
Many restrictions and a heavy burden on families
The guidelines say parents are responsible for accompanying their children to school, regardless of age. They include the premise that work, caregiving or family commitments are not usually considered valid reasons for not being able to accompany a child. They also expect parents to make “other appropriate arrangements” for their children to get to school.
Essentially, the guidelines say that the daily pressures of juggling school drop-off and pick-up with work and family commitments apply equally to all parents, and that it is their responsibility to “juggle a range of responsibilities”.
However, the guidance does not recognise that the pressures on parents of disabled children are different because they will need to be accompanied until a much older age than children without disabilities. As such, we believe that the guidance may discriminate against disabled children and their families, because disabled children are likely to be unfairly disadvantaged by these requirements. We also believe that the guidance is inconsistent with the law1, case law2 and previous guidance3 which states that parents are expected to do only what is “reasonably practicable” to walk their children to school.
In our view, there is an urgent need to review the chaperone guidelines to comply with school transport and equality legislation and to protect the rights of disabled children and their parents.
Were you influenced?
We want to hear from families who have been significantly affected by the changes to school bus guidance. For example, do you have a child between 11 and 16 years old with a disability who has been denied a school bus ride because you need to be accompanied because your parents live within 3 miles of the school? If so, we would appreciate your participation in our survey. It only takes a few minutes.
Your feedback will help us understand how the revised guidance is affecting families and what can be done to combat it.
Please note: this is a Cerebra/SOSSEN/IPSEA/Contact study, not SNJ.
References
See section 508B and Schedule 35B of the Education Act 1996 R v Devon County Council ex p George [1989] AC 573 (which relates to unsafe routes but is likely to apply to entitlements to transport due to special education or mobility issues).See paragraph 52 of the Department for Education’s Consultation on home to school travel and transport guidance: Government response (July 2014), which explains that the 2014 guidance requires local authorities to consider whether it is “reasonably practicable” for a parent to accompany a child.
Read also:
Don’t miss anything!
To ensure you never miss a SNJ post, simply enter your email address below. To activate your free subscription, you must click on the link in the confirmation email you receive.
You can also follow our WhatsApp channel to get the latest updates from us.
Want to learn more? Become an SNJ Patron!
SNJ is a not-for-profit company and everyone who posts here does so voluntarily. We need your support through a one-off or recurring donation to cover our costs. As a thank you, recurring donors will receive an exclusive SEND updates newsletter. Find out more here.
Special Needs Jungle was founded in 2008 by Tania Tirraoro as a personal SEN blog and is now an award-winning, multi-authored site covering special needs, disabilities, mental health and rare conditions for children and young people from birth to 25 years old.
Latest Special Needs Jungle Posts (View All)