Council proposes changes to SEND school transport

Some children with SEND receive free transport funded by the council

Children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) could be required to attend schools closer to home to qualify for council-funded transport.

The change could impact children in Bath and North East Somerset (BANES) area who have education, health and care plans (ECHP) with the council.

Currently, BANES Council spends more than £4m a year providing transport to 433 children with SEND, aged between four and 16-years-old.

Councillor Liz Hardman warned the move would have an "emotional impact" on affected children.

In the UK, children who are unable to walk to school because of their SEND and have parents who are unable to take them may be entitled to free transport.

After new government guidance was issued in January, BANES Council proposed the change to its "outdated" policy, the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) said.

Eligibility criteria

Laura Donnelly, head of SEND at BANES, insisted children would not be asked to move schools, and no recipients would lose their transport.

The policy changes would require children to attend the closest appropriate school for their needs in order to qualify for free transport - otherwise, the parent or carer will be responsible for getting the child to school.

Ms Donnelly added that nothing has changed in the requirements around attending the nearest school, it just was not "explicitly" clear in the previous policy.

"It's about us trying to be transparent.

"I think our parents and carers who have EHCPs would be very aware, through conversations with their practitioners, that that was always the case and sometimes we would ask them if they wanted a further away school, to pick up the transport costs or partial transport costs in order to fund taking the child to a further away school if that was their choice," she said.

She also said eligibility criteria has not changed.

The council has written to all parents and carers of children with SEND who currently received school transport support, and have contacted all of the schools which they attend.

Six in-person drop-in events have been held across the area over the plans.