Purpose

The report outlines the issues facing the
Council relating to home to school travel and transport for
children and young people with special educational needs and
disabilities. The reports seeks permission to go out to public
consultation on amending the policy to implement a higher
proportion of personal budgets to support travel to
school.

Content

That
it be DETERMINED that:

Consultation is undertaken between 2 January 2024 and 9 February
2024 on amendments to the home to learning transport policy for
students aged 16 – 19 or 16 – 25 with an EHCP in
further education as set out in Appendix 2. 

That the proposed amount of personal transport
budgets as set out in section 9 of this report form part of the
consultation.

3.    
A decision report on the outcome of the consultation
is considered by the Executive Cabinet of the Council in March
2024.
 

Reasons for the decision

New
statutory guidance on travel to school for children of compulsory
school age was issued by the Department for Education in June
2023.  There have been no changes to the
eligibility criteria for support with home to school transport with
this new guidance but there have been some clarifications to
wording which are reflected in a proposed 4 – 16 home to
school transport policy.  This report
outlines those clarifications and recommends a consultation with a
wide range of stakeholders on the proposed 4 – 16
policy.  The
report also proposes a consultation to amend how discretionary
support provided to young people with an Education Health and Care
Plan in post 16 learning receive support with home to school
transport.  The proposal is to provide
every eligible young person with a personal transport budget to
enable families to commission their own transport support to meet
their individual needs. 
 
The
new Department for Education guidance requires local authorities to
consult widely on any changes to home to school transport policies
and this report seeks permission to consult with a range of
stakeholders on the 4 – 16 and post 16 home to school
transport policies.