Council proposes post-16 SEND travel changes

Parents of young people with special educational needs in Nottinghamshire could end up contributing hundreds of pounds towards school transport.

Nottinghamshire County Council is considering changes to its post-16 home-to-school transport service for students with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) to save money.

The Reform-led authority said the number of young people receiving the service had nearly doubled over the last five years, with annual costs of about £29m expected to increase to £35m in the next two years.

It is now asking residents to have their say on potential changes, with the consultation running for eight weeks from 20 October to 14 December.

Currently, most eligible young people aged 16 to 25 use council-arranged transport, including specialist vehicles, minibuses and taxis, which costs the authority about £7m annually.

About 800 students would be affected by possible changes, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

Options include asking families with eligible young people aged 16 to 18 to pay a £795 yearly contribution towards council-arranged transport, and changing how eligibility is assessed to encourage more families to use the Direct Travel Assistance Payments option, a grant that helps families make their own arrangements by covering fuel and other travel costs.

Households with incomes of less than £7,400 would not be charged.

The council aims to save £3.65m on home-to-school transport across the medium term, with nearly £1m already saved through axing its discretionary faith transport service from September 2027.

Four options identified by the authority claim to save from £400,000 to £3.1m by March 2029.

Bert Bingham, cabinet member for transport and environment, said the council was "under budgetary pressure" and "money isn't endless", adding proposed financial contributions from some parents are "not unreasonable".

"We've got to manage the council finances in a prudent way and this is deemed to be the right way forward," he added.

"We can't leave things as they are, it's not the only area we have budget pressures.

"We're looking at the most humane way possible and looking to contain increases."

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