Kent County Council to launch review over SEND transport delays

Council leader Roger Gough has began talks to launch an investigation

A council is in talks to launch an inquiry after special needs children were unable to get to school.

Kent County Council (KCC) suffered from driver shortages and delays in arranging contracts with bus and taxi companies in February.

Almost 300 special needs children were unable to attend lessons.

KCC's leader Roger Gough has spoken to the Local Government Association about launching an inquiry into the handling of the crisis.

Conservative councillors want a "quick" and "timely" inquiry so that changes can be made swiftly, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

But the Liberal Democrats and Labour have called for an independent external review as they believe it would be more trustworthy.

'Breach of trust'

Labour councillor Lauren Sullivan wants the affected parents and children to be actively involved in the process.

She said: "It is fair to say this has caused a huge amount of distress and this should have been avoided.

"This represents another breach of trust between KCC and our SEND parents."

But Conservative councillor Andy Booth warned: "Should we go for an external review, the dates of six to nine months are blown out of the water and we are looking at a year plus."

Demand for services increased but fewer drivers were available

Problems began as KCC tried to source contracts to cater for extra capacity for 5,500 young people by September 2021.

The authority faced delays in finalising arrangements, continuing into February.

About one quarter of the 5,500 remained without allocated transport at the February half term.

Councillor Shellina Prendergast expressed "sincere apologies" for the difficulties faced by parents in Kent

Shellina Prendergast, KCC's cabinet member for education, said: "We never intended for this to happen and we are truly sorry."

Kent Parents and Carers Trust described it as a "huge gap" in communication with parents and warned the crisis could not happen again.

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