Agenda item

Report: Home to School Transport Policy Consultation

Cabinet agreed to consult on the attached draft Home to School Transport policy

Report: Home to School Transport Policy Consultation

The report was introduced by Cllr Oscar Ford, Cabinet Member for Children’s Services.

In recent years, Havering has experienced a significant and continued increase in the number of requests for an Education Health and Care Plan (EHCP) and the number of EHCPs being issued.  The number has increased from 1,328 in 2017/18 to 2,189 in 2021/22, a cumulative increase of 861, or 62% based on 2017/18 levels.  This increase is forecast to increase further, and we expect to have over 3,200 by 2025/26.

This increase in EHCPs has also resulted in a significant increase in demand for transport assistance, and spend has exceeded budgets for a number of years, despite various mitigations being introduced.  The pandemic impacted on spend as travel was disrupted due to the various periods of lockdown, which meant that spend was suppressed in 2020/21 and 2021/22, but spend in 2022/23 was £5.5m, against a budget of £2.7m – an overspend of £2.8m.

The DfE has recently launched new Home-to-school travel statutory guidance, which requires the Local Authority to review its existing policies.

We currently support around 600 individuals up to 25 years old with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities.  It tends to be parents applying for young people up to 16 then individuals post 16 up to 25 subject to individual’s capacity and ability.

The aim of the project is ultimately to deliver a more personalised transport assistance service, whilst delivering savings of £1.4m over four years as a minimum.  We aim to introduce new policies to meet the new statutory guidance from the DfE for the relevant age groups.  

Cabinet agreed to consult on the attached draft Home to School Transport policy