To think this is a good deal and we should take the money

[TastingTheRainbow]

Been struggling to decide this all day so hoping you can help.

My son has special needs and will be starting at a special needs high school in September that's 35 miles away (40 minutes in no traffic).

He is entitled to travel assistance as this is the closest school that could accommodate him and we have not sent him so far away by choice, plus we are a low income family. We thought this would be via a taxi but have had a letter saying if we transport him ourselves the LA will pay us £6800 a year.

That seems an unbelievable amount of money! My quick sums have calculated that with that money we could buy a car (we would need a second car as I take the only one to work), insure it and keep it on the road, cover the petrol cost required for the journey and still have money left over. Plus we then have the convieneve of two cars full time which we really need just can't afford.

If we say no to the money they will organise a taxi. This will be more inflexible however and will pick up at a set time, only waiting for 2 minutes, and can't be changed if he has after school clubs etc. We would then need to collect anyway.

AIBU to think that while it will may be a PITA to do the school run that far every day the money they are offering makes it the better option?

In the interest of fairness I should say it would be my partner not me doing the school run as I work full time and she dosnt. I have said it is her choice to decide however, she just thinks I may be missing the 'catch' somehow.

The whole system is really harsh. I know of several children at my childs PMLD school who don't qualify for motability vehicles and in addition have had their school transport (taxi services) taken away. The LA that I live in decided a few years ago that only those living over 3 miles from the school would be entitled to school transport, despite the govt guidance being that the minimum distance criteria (the 3 mile rule) shouldn't apply in cases where the child is incapable of travelling to school independently due to a physical disability or additional learning need. So there are parents having to get their children to school on public buses or trains because they live less than 3 miles from school but too far to walk with their disabled children and of course the children cannot get to school by themselves.

Sorry, I have gone off topic now but I just wanted to explain how complex it is to get access to things which should be a basic requirement when you have a disabled child.

Iam I get higher rate DLA myself, so I am aware of one aspect of disability issues, but I confess I was woefully unaware of the problems faced by parents getting their disabled kids to school.

I suppose I just assumed that transport was always arranged and paid for by the LA, because, well, that seems the right thing to do. And even if adults with disabilities are treated often pretty shoddily by society, I assumed kids got a better deal.

More fool me then.

TastingTheRainbow - it's not about getting all you can get out of the LA, it's about getting your DS to school with the best arrangements at least cost to the LA. Whatever arrangement they offer you, the LA will be better off.

to do the 140 miles is a huge commitment - time wise and also otherwise.

what happens if your DP is ill or has other commitments and won't be able to do the school run? what if he wants to go back to work or so?

And with a £1k car and such a mileages, you can be fairly certain to be spending quite a few quid on reparations and having the car in the garage.

this option is much cheaper for the LA but really, I would not.

So what fuel economy did you get to pay much less than 25p/mile?

25p a mile would be between 3 and 4 thousand pounds a year, and I think I typically spent a little more that that, so I don't think I did pay much less.

(Having had a quick look at figures for individual years my guess would be my costs were somewhere in the region of 35p a mile, plus or minus a few p.)

Just realised the OP is making two round trips a day compared to my one: that might make a bit of a difference!.

Thanks everyone. Definitely no chance of high rate mobility DLA. He gets high rate care as he has severe mental / behavioural issues but his mobility is not affected in anyway therefore he does not qualify.

Mobility doesn't always have to be affected to get high rate mobility allowance. If your child has severe behavioural problems and a severe learning disability (especially if he halos has ASD) and gets high rate care element of DLA he is probably entitled to high rate mobility even if he can sprint 100m in 10 seconds. The reason being that he won't have any sense of danger and won't be able to use public transport safely and will be difficult to even walk down the street with whilst ensuring his safety. A child who can quickly run away and into the path of a lorry because he doesn't know any better and is faster than his parents / carers can get high rate mobility allowance.

Can I PM you about this iamnotloobrushphobic?

Yes, of course you can rainbow.

You can get mobility for ASD. Your child cannot travel in the same way as his peers. My son got middle rate mobility. We did use taxi service and it was variable. We had awful drivers and fab drivers the last of which became part of his education.

There is no middle rate mobility. Only low and high rate. To get a mobility car, you need high rate mobility which is very, very hard to get for ASD.
,

It isn't very very hard to get for ASD if the child has severe learning disabilities and gets high rate care. There used to be some info on this on the NAS website but I don't know if it is still there.
Quite a few children at my child's school who have ASD and severe learning disability get high rate mobility and the parents therefore have much needed motability cars.

www.cafamily.org.uk/media/379407/dla_for_children_with_learning_difficulties.pdf

Some info on mobility allowance for ASD / behavioural problems on that link. Hope it helps somebody.

I have a DC with ASD and severe LD. It took a tribunal application to get high rate care but still no high rate mobility. I know it is possible but I don't know anybody in RL who managed it. it is not easy

I managed it and so did other parents at my child's school. I was worried when I renewed his DLA application two years ago but we had a letter within 5 working days saying our child was still eligible for high rate care and high rate mobility. Bear in mind my child's behaviour is such that he can't even travel to school in a taxi with an escort and his special school have deemed him to be the most challenging child that they have.

I'm not saying it is easy though, just that it is possible and for some children it is apparent that they cannot travel safely on public transport (or even walk anywhere outside without being held onto with a harness etc and being at constant risk due to no danger awareness).