The rising costs of school transport

Today at the County Councils Network annual conference, I chaired the launch session for a new report, commissioned by CCN from the ISOS partnership, on the rising costs of home to school transport, in particular for children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND). The increase in costs - SEND transport costs at CCN member authorities are set to treble over the decade to 2027-28 - is one of the biggest factors threatening the financial stability of county and unitary councils.

The increase reflects the much larger number of children with Education, Health and Care Plans following reforms introduced in 2014-15, and the shift to more special school places, in many cases at greater distance from the family home. All this has taken place within the framework of a school transport system unaltered in its fundamentals from the provisions of the 1944 Education Act.

I have taken on the role of CCN’s spokesperson on children’s services, and so have been part of the report’s launch. It is a rigorous, high quality and important piece of work. Today was the official launch, but the media release was some days ago and the underlying arguments have been presented to government still earlier. Which is important, because while the report sets out proposals for longer-term reform, it also urges a short-term cash injection from government to meet the immediate pressures. We will see from tomorrow’s Autumn Statement how the government responds.  

You can find more about the report and its release here.

SEND schools for Swanley and Whitstable

Some excellent news for the delivery of SEND (Special Educational Needs and Disability) education in Kent. The Education Secretary has approved two special Free Schools, in Swanley and Whitstable. 

Both will serve children with Profound, Severe and Complex Needs. They formed part of our Safety Valve agreement with the DfE late last year, which aims to put SEND education in the County on a financially sustainable basis. They will also make an important contribution to meeting need and improving SEND services in the County.

You can find the KCC media release here.

SEND transport changes: an apology, and information for families

Kent County Council is introducing changes to the transport arrangements for children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) from the start of next week (Monday 21 February). These changes, which will affect routes, transport and travel with other children, reflect the rapid growth in SEND children requiring transport and a severe shortage of drivers.

However, the process of allocating transport to SEND children has taken longer than had originally been anticipated and a significant number of parents were not informed of their child’s new transport arrangements by the promised date of the end of term (last Friday, 11 February). This has, naturally, caused huge anxiety to these families. 

We recognise that this is an utterly unacceptable position for these families to be put in. Councillors and officers have sought this week to secure transport for many of the affected families, and communication has been through email and a dedicated phone line to seek to keep all parents as informed as possible as to the latest position and the arrangements for their child. KCC has also worked with Kent PACT (Parents and Carers Together, the forum for SEND families), who have sought to help and communicate with rightly distressed parents.

This KCC statement sets out the details of how parents can get more information and, quite rightly, apologises fully for the distress and anxiety that families have experienced. We will review in full how this happened, but the immediate priority is to resolve the uncertainty over transport for many SEND families.