Agenda item

Report Title: Home to School Transport Policy

Presented by: Cllr Oscar Ford, Cabinet Member for Children and Young People

Cabinet agreed

1.     To adopt the revised Home to School Transport policy attached at appendix A, providing appropriate support according to need and ability, ensuring that the Council meets the statutory requirements in accordance with guidance issued by the DfE

2.     To not introduce a charge for Post 16 Travel at this time

3.     Noted that the draft policy for approval was the subject of changes in light of responses received by the council, through its consultation.

Report Title: Home to School Transport Policy

Presented by: Cllr Oscar Ford, Cabinet Member for Children and Young People

Summary:

Local authorities (LAs) have a legal responsibility to provide home to school transport for eligible students of statutory school age, including children with Special Education Needs and Disability (SEND).

LAs are responsible for deciding what travel arrangements to make, provided they are suitable for the needs of the children for which they are made.

Havering Council currently provides transport assistance to nearly 800 individuals up to 25 years old with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities.   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 over 2,300 in 2022/23.  This increase is forecast to increase further, and we expect to have over 3,200 plans in place 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. However, spend in 2022/23 was £5.5m, against a budget of £2.7m resulting in a £2.8m overspend.

The Department for Education (DfE) has recently updated their statutory guidance, replacing the previous Home to School Travel and Transport guidance from 2014.

In response to the changes to the government guidance, Havering Council undertook a consultation on a new Home to School Transport policy. There was a good response rate to the consultation, made over the statutory consultation period, with a total of 575 individuals responding.

Of the 575 responses, the vast majority were from Parents/Guardians accounting for 83 % of the responses, followed by school or educational settings at 6%, the general public at 4% and children under 16 offering a 3.5% contribution.

The consultation identified that some parents and guardians had fears that transport would be cut to accommodate savings targets. The Council is committed to maintaining a full transport provision, in compliance with its statutory duties. It will work with parents in collaboration to identify the best fit transport arrangement for the needs of the child. Whilst the Policy supports a greater focus on cost efficient travel provision, this does not mean that inappropriate arrangements will be forced upon families.

Home-to-school travel is an integral part of the school system. It ensures no child of compulsory school age is prevented from accessing education through a lack of transport or due to the cost of transport.

The cost to the LA of delivering free home-to-school travel has increased significantly in recent years. The DfE statutory guidance states that it is important that local authorities take travel costs into account when planning the supply of school places.  Capital expenditure, revenue costs and travel costs need to be considered together with efficient systems and practices to ensure financial sustainability.

The Council is under a duty to have regard to the DfE guidance when:

•        carrying out their duties in relation to arrangements for travel to school for eligible children of compulsory school age;

•        exercising their discretionary power to arrange travel for other children;

•        carrying out their duties in relation to the promotion of sustainable travel to school (this duty applies in relation to young people of sixth form age as well as children of compulsory school age).

Parents are responsible for ensuring their child attends school.  This means they must take all the action necessary to enable their child to attend school.  For most parents, this includes making arrangements for their child to travel to and from school. 

However, local authorities must make arrangements for eligible children to travel to school free-of-charge, ensuring that families, local authority school travel, and special educational needs teams work together to ensure travel arrangements are considered when deciding what school to name in a child’s Education, Health and Care Plan.

Cabinet

1.     Agreed, to adopt the revised Home to School Transport policy attached at appendix A, providing appropriate support according to need and ability, ensuring that the Council meets the statutory requirements in accordance with guidance issued by the DfE

2.     Agreed, to not introduce a charge for Post 16 Travel at this time

3.     Noted that the draft policy for approval was the subject of changes in light of responses received by the council, through its consultation.