17/05/2026
Changes to Home to School transport for 16-18 yr olds
Hertfordshire County Council is to stop providing transport to school or college for hundreds of young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), in a move projected to cut spending by millions of pounds.
Instead, eligible families of children aged 16-18 will be offered ‘personal transport budgets’ (PTBs) – at a rate of 55p a mile – and asked to organise transport arrangements themselves.
The council say the move will provide greater flexibility for families, promote independence for young people and cut council costs by an estimated £3m a year within three years.
But in opposition to the change, families have suggested that their children may not be able to travel alone and that the ‘personal travel budgets’ won’t cover the cost of the transport required.
Others have suggested the change will put additional stress on families, with some parents fearing they will have to give up work, as a result
Nevertheless, the decision to make personal travel budgets the “default” form of travel support available to young people in post-16 education was taken at a meeting of the county council’s cabinet on Wednesday (May 13).
Contracted transport, such as buses or taxis, it was said, will still be available in “exceptional circumstances”, subject to an appeals process.
And any young person, aged 16-18, who is already receiving contracted transport will not be affected by the decision, unless their address or educational provision changes.
In making the case for the change, executive member for education, SEND and inclusion Cllr Mark Watkin (Liberal Democrat, Nascot Park) said that there was no statutory requirement for the authority to provide ‘home to school’ transport for those aged between 16 and 18.
He outlined the rising costs of home-to-school transport across the education system and the savings that the change in policy would bring, as well as suggesting that it would offer families greater flexibility.
Pointing to the rising costs of home-to-school transport to the council, he said that over the past 12 years, the average costs of home-to-school transport for all ages had increased by 134%, with 3,133 children and young people receiving transport this year, at an average cost of £10,990 per child.
Data presented to the cabinet suggested that 741 of those young people were aged 16 – 18, of which 496 had received contracted transport, such as a taxi or minibus, at an average cost of £10,102.
The remaining 245, according to the data, had already opted for a personal transport budget, at an average cost of around £3000.
At the meeting, Cllr Watkin pointed to the growing number of families already opting to take personal travel budgets as an illustration of the appeal, ability and willingness of many families to arrange the travel.
And he said that based on the assumption that the change in policy would lead to 75% of families with children aged 16-18 moving to personal travel budgets, he said the move would result in net efficiencies of £3.2m in three years.
Cllr Watkin also highlighted councils in Leicestershire, Derbyshire, Kent and Surrey as being among those to have taken similar decisions.
And he said: “The personal transport budgets are substantially less expensive than contracted transport – freeing up vital resources that can then be reinvested into the SEND service, specialist school places and improved support for the most vulnerable learners.
“This approach ensures long-term sustainability, while continuing to provide the necessary assistance.
“It supports choice and personalisation. Families will be able to tailor transport to suit their medical appointments, part-time timetables, care and responsibilities and unique circumstances – something that fixed contracted routes cannot offer.”
At the meeting, Cllr Watkin acknowledged that this was a “very different approach”.
But he vowed that the county council would “work hard to ensure that it will work effectively”, while committing to review the arrangements after six months.
As part of the decision-making process, the council had conducted a consultation.
Of the 1660 responses received, more than half (54%) said they would not be happy to receive a personal transport budget, 27% said they would be happy, and 19% were unsure.
Of those who responded, 45% agreed that the county council did have to target its resources at those most in need of support.
Personal transport budgets, according to the report, will be calculated on the basis of 55p a mile, based on two return journeys per day, with a top-up of up to £450 a year for those in receipt of higher-level Disability Living Allowances or PIP.
The annual average cost of a personal transport budget was said to be around £3,000.
✍Original copy via Local Democracy Service by Deborah Price
