On Monday, 16 September, we launched a consultation exercise to capture feedback about proposed changes to discretionary Post 16 home to school transport provision for young people with&nbsp;Special Educational Needs and Disabilities.&nbsp; In addition to the home to school transport we are legally required to provide, South Gloucestershire Council currently offers discretionary support to families of young people who are over the statutory school age and&nbsp;who have&nbsp;special educational needs&nbsp;and disabilities,&nbsp;which in&nbsp;most cases are those with Education,&nbsp;Health&nbsp;and Care Plans.&nbsp;Over recent years, demand for this support has significantly increased, but funding has not kept pace.&nbsp;Following a comprehensive review of the support that we are currently providing as well as what is offered in other local authority areas, we have identified a preferred option to switch the focus of our assistance, so more families are supported through the Council's expenses-based model.&nbsp; &nbsp;Through this consultation, we are keen to hear your views on the proposed changes - we are especially interested in any potential impacts for you, your child or your family.&nbsp;&nbsp; The survey will remain open until 1 December 2024.

Launch of consultation

Have your say on proposed changes to discretionary home to school transport provision for young people with Education, Health & Care Plans. Survey open until 1 December 2024.

Post-16 Home to School Transport Consultation

Changes to discretionary home to school transport support

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Comments are not visible, but once the consultation closes, we will publish a report summarising the feedback gathered.

Thank you for your interest in our post 16 home to school transport consultation

South Gloucestershire Council

If you would prefer to complete a paper copy, you can download the survey here

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Download a copy of the survey to print

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Home to school transport - Paper questionnaire.pdf

An initial assessment of equalities impacts in relation to the review of Post-16 Home to School Transport provision.

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Equality Impact Assessment and Analysis

Initial assessment of equalities impacts

The Council has a statutory duty to consider the impact of its actions in relation to groups with protected characteristics. The document below describes an initial assessment of equalities impacts in relation to the review of Post-16 Home to School Transport.The Council wants to hear and proactively consider any comments in relation to how any aspect of the proposed options presented may impact on any sections of the community as listed above. Any feedback in relation to equalities and any point raised within this document will inform a full Equality Impact Assessment and Analysis of the Post-16 Home to School Transport proposals.

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HtST Post 16 Public Consultation EqIAA.pdf

We have produced an Easy Read version of the information and the survey to allow everyone to share their views.

Easy read version

Give your feedback: Easy Read version

Download the Easy Read survey

Download and print the Easy Read version below.&nbsp;Once you have told us what you think, you can either:&nbsp;1. Scan the document and email it to us, or2. Send us the printed copy in the post.

Download the document

Home to School Transport Consultation Easy Read.pdf

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Draft Home to School Transport (Post 16) SEN & LDD Travel Policy

Draft Home to School  Transport (Post 16)  SEN & LDD Travel Policy

Local authorities have a duty to prepare and publish an annual travel support policy statement specifying the arrangements for the provision of transport or other support that the authority considers it necessary to make to facilitate the attendance of all persons of sixth form age receiving education or training.This draft policy reflects the changes we would like to make.

Read the full draft policy

HtST Post 16 SEN & LDD Travel Policy Sep 24.pdf

Provide feedback on the proposals

Background to the proposals

In addition to what we are legally required to provide, South Gloucestershire Council currently offers discretionary transport support to families of young people who are over the statutory school age who have additional needs, for example young people with an EHCP or learning difficulty/disability. Over recent years, demand for this support has significantly increased, but funding has not kept pace. At a time when the Council&rsquo;s budgets are under significant pressure, we need to review the costs of providing this discretionary support to allow us to effectively deliver the support which we are legally required to provide.The amount we spend transporting children and young people to school has increased by 51% in the last four years, including a jump of 20% in the last year alone, and our annual costs are now more than &pound;10.8 million a year. We expect the costs to increase significantly in future years as the number of young people with special educational needs increases year on year.&nbsp;Therefore, as part of the consultation for the Council&rsquo;s budget for 2023/24, it was proposed to review all remaining non-statutory home to school transport provision. This proposal was supported by people responding to the budget consultation and councillors agreed to investigate measures to deliver savings. This consultation seeks feedback on proposals designed to deliver savings; we are particularly interested to understand about any impact of the changes.

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Delivering services as efficiently as possible

In seeking to identify savings, the Council first reviewed how services are currently being provided to look for efficiencies. You can find out more about this exercise below:

Through this exercise, we identified some cost-saving measures, but not the level of savings we need to make. We must therefore also look to cut services and support we are not legally required to provide.

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Benchmarking our service against what is offered by other councils

There is no legal obligation to provide additional support to anyone aged over 16, so we benchmarked our service with what is provided in other authority areas, focusing specifically on places with a similar demographic and urban/rural mix as South Gloucestershire.

This exercise showed that others have already taken steps to remove most, or in some cases, all transport elements from their policy which they are not required to offer. Additionally, many have switched away from a model whereby the council offers direct provision to one where families organise travel with (or without) financial support from the local authority.

The preferred approach

Having considered the different approaches in turn, we identified a preferred option to switch the focus to a model where more families are supported through the Council&#39;s expenses-based model. This would mean:<ul><li>The expenses-based model (which is already a choice for families) becomes the preferred option for those young people entitled to travel assistance.</li><li>Families take over responsibility for arranging how young people will get to school/college. They are supported with expenses paid at 45 pence per mile for two round trips per day. (This is the Mileage Allowance Payment rate for cars and vans as specified by HMRC).</li><li>Families with exceptional or extenuating circumstances would be able to make a case for additional travel assistance.</li><li>An appeals process is available for families concerned about the decision following their application.</li></ul>The Council believes that this proposed preferred approach balances the authority&rsquo;s need to save money with offering support which enables young people to attend local education/training provision which best meets their needs. By promoting more young people to choose independent travel options, we will also help young people build the knowledge, skills and confidence to live more independent lives.We are proposing introducing this change for students entering post 16 education/training from September 2025. There would be no impact for students already in post 16 education.We have produced example scenarios to explain how we would envisage this scheme working, which you can find <a href="https://schooltransport.commonplace.is/en-GB/proposals/how-the-changes-could-work/step1" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">here</a>.&nbsp;

Other options under consideration through this consultationThe financial challenges we face are significant and we have also considered what might be the impact for families if we were to follow the approach some local authorities have adopted in removing all non-discretionary travel support without paying expenses. Should financial pressures persist, this approach may be something which the council needs to consider in the future.We have also kept open the option to maintain the current approach over the very short term. However, we do not believe this is an affordable long-term option; the costs of home to school transport have increased by 51% in the last four years, including a jump of over 20% in the last year alone. Going forward, we anticipate these costs will increase further due to demand pressures with more children entering education.

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Your feedback

Please thoroughly review the proposals before providing feedback.

Please let us know to what extent you support each of the options presented:

We are especially keen to understand about any impacts of the proposed change.&nbsp;This proposal would be implemented for young people eligible for entering post 16 education or training from the intake starting in September 2025.&nbsp;

* This would mean:The expenses-based model (which is already a choice for families) becomes the preferred option for those post 16 students eligible for additional travel support.Families take over responsibility for arranging how young people will get to school/college. They are supported with expenses paid at 45 pence per mile for two round trips per day. (This is the Mileage Allowance Payment rate for cars and vans as specified by HMRC).Families with exceptional or extenuating circumstances would be able to make a case for additional travel assistance.An appeals process is available for families concerned about the decision following their application. # If changes are not made in time to be implemented for the academic year starting September 2025, the earliest date that changes could be made is September 2026. The implication of this delay would be that other savings would need to be found, which would likely involve cuts to services.

This document seeks to answer common questions in one place.

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Answers to your questions

Download the pdf for answers to common questions

Check out the following documents

Home to School Transport FAQ.pdf

Setting out the pressures which have led to the need to make these changes.

Background to the changes

The Council recognises that some young people face greater challenges accessing education or training and so, on a discretionary basis, has historically offered transport support to families of young people who are over the statutory school age who have additional needs, for example young people with an EHCP or learning difficulty/disability.&nbsp;However, demand for this support has significantly increased over recent years, but funding has not kept pace. At a time when the Council&rsquo;s budgets are under significant pressure, we need to review the costs of providing this discretionary support to allow us to effectively deliver the support which we are legally required to provide.Within the area of home to school transport provision, the financial challenges are especially acute:&nbsp;<ul type="disc"><li>The costs of providing home to school transport have increased by 51% in the last four years, including a jump of more than 20% in the last year alone.&nbsp;</li><li>We are expecting further increases in future years as the number of young people with special educational needs increases year on year.&nbsp;</li></ul>The Council is increasingly finding itself having to cut back on discretionary support to focus resources on those services which it is legally obliged to provide.Therefore, as part of the consultation for the Council&rsquo;s budget for 2023/24, it was proposed to review all remaining non-statutory home to school transport provision. This proposal was supported through a consultation and councillors agreed to investigate measures to deliver savings.In selecting the best way forward, the Council has balanced the need to save money with offering support which enables young people to attend local education/training provision which best meets their needs.<h3>Identifying efficiencies</h3>The Council has first reviewed how services are currently being provided to look for efficiencies,&nbsp;focusing on three main areas:<ul><li>Firstly, we reviewed the full list of journeys to see if we could reduce our overall costs by grouping individual journeys into fewer vehicles (and drivers) where young people are travelling in similar directions.</li><li>We also looked at all the journeys for which we are providing a guided escort to support the individual on their journeys to check these are all still required.</li><li>Lastly, we looked at the relative costs of journeys being made within Council-owned vehicles driven by council employees against what those same journeys cost in the private sector (for example using a private taxi firm).</li></ul>This exercise showed that in general, the council is already providing services in the most cost-effective way. However, we have found some opportunities to reduce costs without significantly impacting young people or families. These changes are due to be implemented in the coming months.&nbsp;Unfortunately, we have not identified the level of savings we need to make and must therefore also consider cutting back non statutory services and support.

In identifying a preferred approach, we benchmarked our service with what is provided in other authority areas.

What happens elsewhere

There is no legal obligation to provide additional support to anyone aged over 16, so in identifying a preferred approach in South Gloucestershire, we benchmarked our service with what is provided in other authority areas, focusing specifically on places with a similar demographic and mix of rural and urban places.&nbsp;This exercise showed that others have already taken steps to remove most, or in some cases, all the transport elements from their policy which they are not legally obliged to provide. Additionally, many have switched away from a model whereby the council offers direct provision to one where families organise travel with (or without) financial support from the local authority.&nbsp;The research highlighted a range of different approaches adopted in different authority areas, including:<ul><li>Withdrawing all discretionary elements of home to school transport,</li><li>Delivering independent travel training for young people and withdrawing or reducing ongoing support,</li><li>Replacing home to school transport provision with an annual lump sum payment/bursary (flat rate),</li><li>Replacing home to school transport provision with an annual lump sum payment/bursary (banded offer depending on families&rsquo; financial situation),</li><li>Replacing home to school transport provision with per mile expenses (flat rate),</li><li>Replacing home to school transport provision with per mile expenses (banded offer depending on distance travelled),</li><li>Replacing home to school transport provision with per mile expenses (banded offer depending on complexity of need),</li><li>Continuing council organised provision, but charging parents a contribution towards the costs,</li><li>Offering concessionary travel passes for individuals with complex needs,</li><li>Switching young people with complex needs onto services provided as part of statutory provision.</li></ul>We considered each of these approaches in turn and have identified a preferred option to switch the focus to an expenses-based approach with more young people travelling independently.

The discretionary support the Council currently provides

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The current approach

Home to school transport support for young people who are over the statutory school age (16) who have additional needs is the only area of educational support the council provides beyond what is legally required to offer. We have offered this discretionary support in the past to make it easier for young people with an EHCP or learning difficulty/disability, to attend the most appropriate school/college which meets their needs.For some families, the Council organises and pays for taxis or minibuses to take young people to and from educational settings, whilst other families receive expenses to cover the costs of organising transport themselves. Currently, of the post 16 students the council supports:<ol><li>Two-thirds travel to school/college in a taxi or minibus which is paid for, organised and provided by the council.</li><li>The other third travel to school by another means (for example using a public bus or driven by parents) and claim expenses from the council (paid at a rate of 45p per mile).</li></ol>However, the costs of providing this discretionary support are becoming increasingly unaffordable, hence the need for changes.