ISOS Partnership has recently published a report, commissioned by the Local Government Association, on “The future of home to school transport” in England. The Local Government Association is a campaign group that seeks to influence government on behalf of councils.

The report explores what is driving the widely publicised increases in school transport costs and “makes recommendations for ways in which the home to school transport policy might evolve in future to continue to meet the needs of children, young people and their families but in a way that is financially sustainable.”

Families regularly contact our Legal Rights Service about school transport problems, so we’ve looked at the report and wanted to share our concerns about some of its recommendations.

The report recommends scrapping the current statutory right to transport based on SEN/disability and instead introducing a ‘simple binary distance criterion’ (3 miles) for everyone, including children with SEN and/or disabilities. It would be left to “local discretion to ensure that there is sufficient support for those who face the most significant challenges in getting their children to school”.

Essentially, this would mean that children who live more than 3 miles from school would qualify for transport, but any child who lives within 3 miles (including those with SEN and/or disabilities) would no longer be eligible. Councils would still have a power to award transport to children living within 3 miles if they chose, but we think it’s likely that this discretion would only be exercised in exceptional circumstances.

The report suggests councils could save around 15 percent of their annual transport budgets if the proposals were brought in, which would translate into thousands of children potentially losing council funded home to school transport.

The pressures on local government finances are well-known, but we’re very concerned that these proposals aim to shift the financial burden of meeting disabled children’s transport needs on to families. We think this approach is deeply unfair and represents a significant erosion of disabled children’s rights.

The report includes other proposals which could adversely affect disabled children, including the use of distant pick-up points, public transport ‘hubs’, independent travel training and mandatory personal transport budgets.

Previous ISOS reports have come under criticism from other organisations, particularly in relation to SEND reforms.

These are research findings rather than formal proposals, but we’ll be keeping tabs on the report’s progress and will continue to work with other charities on school transport issues.