School transport system for disabled children ‘broken’, says Halifax MP

5th October, 2022

Halifax’s Labour MP Holly Lynch has launched a parliamentary petition demanding better funding for home to school transport for disabled children.

Local authorities across the country are being hit by financial pressures. Rising demand for disabled children’s transport services, the increasing complexity of need, and inflation, means they are left with no option but to cut costs. In some cases this is restricting vulnerable children’s access to the education and vital support, the MP says.

Tens of thousands of children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) are being sent out of area due to a lack of local provision and three out of four councils have SEN funding deficits, with the largest being a whopping £103m.

Ms Lynch will be handing in her petition in the House of Commons chamber later in the year. It requests that the House of Commons urges the Government to reallocate funding to cover the rising costs of SEND transport, and make the funding of post-16 SEND transport statutory for local authorities, ensuring that children and young people can access the education and support they need.

“The current system for children with special education needs and disabilities is broken”, she argues. “There is a lack of provision in many areas meaning children are being sent a long way out of area, and inadequate funding means council’s are faced with spiralling transport costs and are being forced to make cuts. It is time that the funding given to local authorities was more reflective of the demands they face for these services.”

Halifax based charity, Unique Ways supports families with disabled children. Their CEO, Shona Walsh said “we have witnessed the impact of our Parent Carer Members being faced with unexpected transport costs, at a time when many are struggling due to the cost of living crisis. Furthermore, families with disabled children often face higher costs for their gas and electricity. Many families say they need more heating to stay warm, yet others say they have to use extra electricity to charge up items of assistive technology. With transport costs coming into the mix too, this is a triple whammy that many Parent Carers can’t cope with and may feel they may need to keep their child at home as they can’t afford transport costs to and from school”.

Calderdale Cabinet member for Children and Young People’s Services, Cllr Adam Wilkinson, is backing the campaign:

“We have a large underlying deficit in the council’s SEND transport budget at a time when we are dealing with inflationary costs and ever increasing demands on the service. We know this problem is not limited to Calderdale with many authorities in an even more bleak financial situation. A fully inclusive education system requires adequate funding from national government and at the moment SEND children and their families are being let down.”

You can sign Holly’s petition here.