Families pledge on SEN tranport needs after ruling

LEICESTERSHIRE County Council has pledged to continue working closely with families around changes being made to post-16 special educational needs (SEN) transport following a court ruling.

The pledge follows the unanimous decision by the Court of Appeal that the county council’s SEN home-to-school transport policy is lawful.

The council now plans to introduce the new approach to transport funding in the next 18 months.

Coun Blake Pain, the county council’s acting deputy leader, said: “Introducing a new policy was a tough decision for us to make. Families have understandably raised concerns and we’re committed to working closely with them over the next 18 months.

“We welcome today’s judgement and, as the leading judge acknowledged, the council has to make ‘difficult choices in straitened financial circumstances’.”

The council says it had already decided to pause the introduction of the new policy until September 2021 – to end uncertainty as the appeal court outcome was awaited.

This followed last month’s hearing into an appeal on limited aspects of a High Court ruling last year, which similarly decided that the policy was lawful and dismissed a Judicial Review on all grounds

The new policy was due to be introduced in September this year after being paused in 2019 as the outcome of the original High Court hearing was awaited.

Under the new policy, the council provides direct financial support through a Personal Transport Budget (PTB).

The policy also recognises that individual transport solutions may be required for certain children with disabilities.

The policy allows the council to consider exceptional circumstances on a case-by-case basis.