Post-16 School Transport Cuts

Here are some brief notes from the Leeds Parent Carer Forum meeting about the proposed post-16 school transport cuts. Together hopefully we can overturn this decision!

 

Leeds City Council has approved plans that will effectively remove home to school transport for all learners aged 16 - 19 with Special Educational Needs or Disabilities across the city from September 2025. We feel that this targeting of some of the most vulnerable members of society is completely unacceptable.Leeds City Council’s objective is that from 2025 parents and carers will be responsible for arranging their young person's transport themselves and that transport will only be provided via Leeds City Council transport services in “exceptional circumstances”.
This petition represents parents and carers across the City who have various concerns about these proposals, specific to their individual circumstances, however they include:

• The agreed proposals set out that for journeys of less than 3 miles there will be no support at all - disabled young people will be expected to walk/travel in their wheelchair, be driven by their parents/carers or use public transport. This may be possible and appropriate for some young people but there will be a large number who cannot safely walk 3 miles, or walk at all, or use public transport independently.
• For longer distances families will be offered a tiered travel allowance of £1000 for 3 - 10 miles, £2000 for 10 - 20 miles or £3000 for those travelling over 20 miles. For many families these allowances would not cover the fuel costs of taking their young person to school or college & back everyday, and even less so if there needed to be a Personal Assistant and a taxi. If parents or carers were forced to reduce their work hours or give up work entirely their loss in income would certainly not be covered by these proposed allowances.
• Travel training may be suitable for some young people but the range of needs for this group vary hugely and schools and colleges are often not in the local area or accessible by bus so this is often not a viable option. We have serious concerns about the safe-guarding risks involved in vulnerable young adults travelling on public transport alone.
• Preparation for adulthood is an essential component of Education, Health & Care Plans - the removal of young people’s transport and relying on parents and carers to take them to school is a regressive step.
• The Council carried out a consultation process about this policy - 62% of people who responded to the consultation disagreed with this proposal - why are our views being ignored?
• Leeds prides itself on being a child friendly city, working with restorative practices - this decision is the exact opposite of that! The policy targets some of the most vulnerable members of our community: disabled children and their parent carers, who already face substantial hurdles in accessing essential services.

Here is the link to the survey: https://forms.office.com/e/kzPrGWgqA0 

Please do fill this in and give as much detail as possible about how these cuts would impact on your young person, on you as parents and carers, your wider family and on your financial circumstances! Please also share this with anyone else you think may be affected next year or in years to come.

Even if your child or young person isn't yet close to 16 yet please do consider getting involved and completing the survey as if this cut happens it will affect you in the future.

Also, we have written some template wording that you could copy into an email or write as a letter to your local councillor - you can find out how to contact them here: https://democracy.leeds.gov.uk/mgFindMember.aspx  ( you can search by your home postcode and then if you click on the link under their photo it will bring up their contact details).

Find the template here: https://sunshineandsmiles.org.uk/downloads/Letter_for_Councillors_or_MPs_re_Transport_Cuts.pdf 

The link for the DEAL Facebook group is here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/371317873715612?locale=en_GB 

The link to the Leeds Parent Carer Forum website is here: https://www.leedsparentcarerforum.co.uk/  - there is an option to register with the forum for updates, newsletters etc about halfway down the page.

The link for a petition against the proposed cuts is here: https://chng.it/XYF8sMnZZT 

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