Taxi costs for school transport shoot up in Bristol

A local shortage of special educational needs and disability places led to costs of school transport shooting up

Costs of taxis to drive disabled children to school have doubled.

The costs to the taxpayer of hiring taxis to drive disabled children in Bristol to school risen since 2022.

Bristol City Council is spending millions every year on home-to-school transport, with many driving more than 20 miles (32km) away.

A local shortage of special educational needs and disability (SEND) places led to costs of school transport shooting up.

The council is forecast to spend £11.8m this year on home-to-school transport, for about 1,200 passengers, adding further pressure on an already stretched education budget.

Vanessa Wilson, director of children and education transformation, told councillors on the people scrutiny commission on Wednesday about the rising costs and the plan to bring them back down.

She said: "Due to a lack of provision in our area, we're placing more children in schools out of the area. There's parental choice as well.

"That's meant that we've seen, just in this last year, a doubling in costs of our transport. At the moment, all of our transport is taxis.

"We're looking at an independent travel training programme. It won't work for every child, but we need to help them become independent as much as we can so that they can travel and go and get jobs, and they're not just restricted to a particular area or reliant always on someone else.

"We're also looking at creating a small fleet ourselves to start disrupting the market and have something that's better for our children."

Another issue is some parents prefer to choose a school for their children well outside of Bristol.

This is partly due to a lack of suitable places with SEND support, but also due to a lack of trust between some parents and schools within the city.

Ms Wilson added: "We're trying to understand why, if there's a school within the area, what it is that puts off parents or why they feel that school doesn't meet their needs.

"If we can address that, that would help. I can't believe that all parents want their children to travel 20 miles or plus every day."

Follow BBC West on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Send your story ideas to: [e-mail]