This week we met with transport managers from East Sussex County Council (ESCC) to talk about personal travel budgets (PTBs) and independent travel training (ITT). They were keen to hear directly from us about the barriers families face when considering these options, and how the council can communicate information about these choices more clearly.
We’ve also been invited to speak at an informal meeting of the ESCC people scrutiny committee so that parent carers’ views and experiences are fully represented in its review of PTBs and ITT. We understand the focus is about cost savings, and of course we all want things to be done as cost efficiently as possible, but our role is about keeping families at the centre and making sure the impact on everyday lives is understood and fully considered.
Our meeting with transport managers was about children who are legally entitled to home-to-school transport due to their special educational needs or disabilities (SEND), mostly those with EHCPs (education, health, and care plans) who are attending special schools a distance away from home. It didn’t include post-16 transport, which remains a gap in the law and is something we will continue to flag in ongoing conversations with the government about the upcoming SEND reforms to try to get this addressed nationally.
Having a choice
First and foremost, we want to reassure families that these conversations are not about removing anyone’s legal entitlement to local-authority arranged transport. Taxis, minibuses, and other arranged transport will continue to be available for those who need them.
The focus here is simply on making sure families know that a personal travel budget is an option, because some families actively prefer it. For those families, having the choice can be a real positive, so it is a win-win situation for the family and for the council trying to make resources stretch further. ESPCF is absolutely not suggesting that families should feel pressured to move away from arranged transport. This is about choice for the families who want it.
Communication
We fed back to ESCC that the current messaging can be confusing. In the past, PTBs were not encouraged, and some families tell us they were refused a PTB or had to challenge decisions to receive one.
We also know that families were previously told that only the journey with the child in the car would be funded, not the whole round trip. Although this is no longer the case – ESCC now funds the whole journey – this hasn’t been clearly communicated, which means outdated or incorrect information is still passed on.
So far, the transport department have been getting in touch with parents of children in solo taxis (with no other children), but they are keen to widen the option of PTBs for more families.
Your feedback
A huge thank you to everyone who responded when we asked for quick feedback on social media recently.
The most common reasons families said they cannot take up a PTB were practical ones:
- juggling school runs for other children
- needing to be at work
- not driving or not having access to a car
- health conditions that make daily driving difficult.
These are completely understandable barriers.
Some parents suggested ideas that might make PTBs more workable, such as funding special schools to offer breakfast clubs or early drop-off options which would help families manage different school start times or work commitments. We recognise this won’t suit every child, especially where the school day is already long due to travel.
Others told us that support with transport costs for siblings, who would not normally be eligible for transport themselves, could make a PTB manageable as it would free up parents’ availability. ESCC confirmed that this may be possible within a PTB arrangement.
Independent travel training (ITT)
Many families said that independent travel training simply isn’t appropriate for their child due to their needs:
- Some children have been offered travel training at transition points (such as when starting college or moving up school years), but this timing and additional change can add even more stress during an already challenging period.
- Some families told us that their child would feel more supported if training were delivered by school staff they already know.
- Reliability of public transport and the lack of safe routes were also major worries.
What’s next
We have shared all of this feedback with ESCC’s transport managers, and it will shape what we take to the scrutiny committee too. Alongside the bigger policy issues, we have also offered to review the letters and information the transport team sends out, to help ensure everything is clear, accurate and genuinely helpful for parents.
Please continue to get in touch with your experiences. The more we hear, the stronger our voice is when we work to influence decisions and make sure home-to-school transport works as well as possible for families across East Sussex.
ESPCF feedback form (this can be completed anonymously)