Plans to remove school transport for teenagers with special educational needs and disabilities have been paused by Leicestershire County Council.
A judicial review was held earlier in the year to determine whether the authority was acting legally by replacing traditional transport arrangements – taxis and minibuses – with a personal travel budget for youngsters aged between 16 and 18. A decision had been expected by the end of May but with no word yet on the outcome of the case, which was heard in April, the council said it has made the decision to pause the roll out of the new policy for 12 months. Parents and pupils are now being given the option to have a personal transport budget and make their own arrangements or revert back to traditional options.
Parents who oppose the changes have praised the ‘sensible’ decision. One campaigner, Annie Bannister, said: “I think they are taking this line because they are absolutely and totally tied up with the paperwork around the personal transport budgets and the subsequent appeals, just as we said they would be. Any money they save on transport is being spent on admin. So it’s ‘transport as normal’ for the next 12 months.”
Letters were sent out to parents and schools earlier this week.
Most county schools are set to finish for the summer next week. Pausing the new policy roll out is expected to cost the authority in the region of £370,000. Ann Carruthers, director of environment and transport, said: “We had anticipated that the judicial review result would be forthcoming by the end of May but we haven’t yet the outcome. We were just concerned that it could go on for another week or two and that’s not good for anyone. To end the uncertainty for parents and to give us the best chance to deliver transport needs by September and the start of the new term we’ve paused implementing the policy for the next 12 months. When the judicial review decision does come in we will be able to look at it in detail at the time and work on it. Pausing now will give us the time to get the necessary arrangements in place.”
The policy, which was set to come in in September, would also remove the discounts which some families receive on transport, meaning many would have to make a contribution towards it.
At the time of the decision, councillors passed the changes ‘with a heavy heart’ – saying the changes were part of moves to make the authority some £50m of savings.
This article originally appeared on Leicestershire Live
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