Yahoo News Boy with complex needs missed 27 days of school after Surrey County Council 'service failure'
A boy missed 27 days of education and special needs provision after his school transport was cancelled. Surrey County Council (SCC) has apologised to his family for “avoidable distress" caused and has been forced to pay them £1,500 after the failings.
The social care ombudsman heard the council failed to provide the child, who has complex medical needs, school transport due to a 'service failure'. The failing meant the council defaulted on its legal duty to provide SEND transport to and from school.
The provider suspended the child’s transport "for his own safety" as staff felt they were no longer able to meet the boy’s change in medical needs, on June 15, 2023. The ombudsman heard the boy waited for his school transport to pick him up the next morning but it did not arrive to collect him.
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It was not until lunchtime the travel provider informed the council that it had suspended its service. SCC speedily offered the mum a travel allowance while it explored longer term solutions but she felt ‘pressured’ into taking with this as she did not have the time to recruit carers. The travel allowance is a more cost-effective option than managed transport services.
“Avoidable distress, frustration and inconvenience”
Report documents detail the “avoidable distress, frustration and inconvenience” that the child’s transport withdrawal caused his family. However, the ombudsman said “the council did exactly what we would expect in the circumstances it found itself in” and it now has contracts with two ambulance-style providers able to transport children with complex medical needs.
A SCC spokesperson said it would not comment on individual cases and “although the report does recognise that we put appropriate mitigations in place, we accept the findings from the Ombudsman report and sincerely apologise for any distress caused”.
It added: “We know how important it is for children and young people to have access to their education setting, however a lack of suitable providers has meant that some children who require specialist provision for high and/or complex medical needs have had to wait longer for appropriate arrangements than we would like. In these circumstances we always work actively with families to find a solution and offer measures such as personal travel allowances in the interim."
The ombudsman demanded the council pay his mother £1,000 in recognition of his missed education and SEN provision during the period he had no transport to school, plus £500 for the 'avoidable distress' it caused her and her family.
Rising demand and costs
An overspend of £7.3m, all based on home to school transport, is already predicted one month into SCC’s new budget for 2024-25. In 2023, SCC saw an overspend of £12m on SEND transport, with nearly a third of the transport costs being to independent schools outside of Surrey.
Rising demand, more travel days and anticipated increase in the number of children who need transport have contributed to a pressurised budget. SCC said it is reviewing all discretionary travel arrangements, tightening applications and is actively promoting personal travel allowance to manage costs.
A SCC spokesperson added: "We have seen a 64% increase in education, health and care needs assessment requests across Surrey since 2020, which has naturally had a knock on effect with a year on year increase in demand for Home to School Travel Assistance (HTSTA) as many children and young people with an education, health and care plan require HTSTA). This has resulted in a predicted overspend for this service.”
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