Bath & North East Somerset Council is spending more than £10 million a year on home-to-school transport as it drives children with special educational needs to schools as far away as, in one case, northern Oxfordshire.
The Guildhall in Bath
Councils have a statutory responsibility to provide transport for some children, such as those who live far from school or have special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), which means they cannot walk to school.
But a lack of SEND spaces at schools in Bath and North East Somerset means the council is having to use taxis to drive children to schools across Somerset, Bristol, Wiltshire, and even further afield.
As of last year, of the almost 2,700 children who qualify for home-to-school transport in Bath and North East Somerset, just over 700 attended SEND schools — but it costs five times more on average to get them to school than it costs to provide home-to-school transport for children in mainstream provision.
The cost of taking a single child with special educational needs or disabilities to school and back in a taxi ranged from between £87.50 to £283.25 a day.
The council’s spending on home-to-school transport has doubled in six years from £5.4 million in 2018/19 to £10.8 million in 2024/25. This year’s budget for home-to-school transport has increased to £11.4 million.
Lucy Hodge, the council’s cabinet member for sustainable transport delivery, told a council scrutiny panel on 25th November: “We are not alone in this challenging environment and in many ways are performing well.”
She said: “Whilst the numbers of children attending mainstream schools remain relatively constant, it is those with EHCPs (education, health, and care plans) which have increased dramatically, consistent with the national trend.
“About 50% of children with EHCPs then require home-to-school transport. The problem for B&NES is that our local SEND provision is full.”
The council is planning to build a new 120-space special school along with a 55-place alternative provision school on the Culverhay site in Bath, which will mean more children with special educational needs and disabilities can attend school in the area. But the scheme is currently stuck waiting for government approval.
A lack of nearby provision is not the only reason children may attend schools further away. Special educational needs and disabilities can be varied and complicated.
Councillor Hodge told the meeting: “It’s not straightforward and finding the schools that have the best provision is what the service is aimed at, and that’s why we have such a wide scatter.”
Part of the reason for the high cost for SEND home-to-school transport is that the need to take individual children to different, far-apart locations usually requires using taxis, which the council only uses as a “last resort.”
The unattractive contracts for driving long distances only at school pickup time have led, in some cases, to the council only receiving a single bid for a home-to-school transport contract, further increasing the cost.
This year, for the first time, the council has begun employing drivers and buying its own cars to make the journeys instead of taxis.
Head of highways, parking and passenger transport Paul Garrod said: “We are being quite frugal. We are not buying brand new vehicles. We are using second hand cars.
“Obviously they are of a good standard but we are being careful with the money.”
Mr Garrod said: “What would make the big difference though, is if we could have more special educational needs provision within the district or close to it.”
John Wimperis, Local Democracy Reporter
