To be OUTRAGED at the cost of this school transport?

[FidgetyFingers]

DS attends a Special School which requires him to use a LA provided school bus as it is too far for him to reach alone (SEN and 3 mile distance ) and he cannot be dropped off due to logistics (other DC need to be in a different place at same time, only have one car which is needed for DH to work).

Up until age 16 it is provided free but as 16-18 years apparently don't legally have to continue in education, the LA will not provide free transport so expect us to pay a 'contribution' of £25 per week! If I can't magic up £300 for the first term in advance, he won't be picked up! This is on top of all the normal back to school outgoings.

Considering a weekly unlimited bus ticket is £10 a week if he was going to college like his brother, AIBU to think this is extortionate?

I asked the LA to explain how they expect parents of SN children to have a greater income just because they have turned 16 and they couldn't explain other than to state 'policy'.

Agree special needs should have funding..

Have you read this OP? There was a petition recently to close the transport loophole for children with disabilities.

specialneedsjungle.com/the-legal-loophole-that-stops-young-disabled-people-from-getting-to-school/

No special needs. We still pay £640 a year for transport for ds to one of the nearish schools.

toomanychilder no I wouldn't.

Is it that you can't afford the £25 a week, or that you can't afford £300 out of the blue all at once?

If the latter, I'd be tempted to just tell them that you will be paying in installments and play chicken with them

Can't he walk Choude?

It sucks but that's how much it cost each week for me through all of high school circa 2006-11.

Do they have a hardship fund? Or bursary? Can DP take DS early to a before school club and then go to work?

I’m getting cross now, and a bit teary to be honest. I’d bloody love to have the experience of having to pay for my son to go to University. I’d live in a tent if I had to. While the sons and daughters of my peers went off to University and wider horizons, he was still doing effin’ leaf prints again for God’s sake.

Isn't this sort of thing what DLA/PIP is for?

OP you've not responded to a couple of people asking whether you currently receive the mobility part of DLA.

If so, the local authority are likely to justify the cost on the grounds that you are in receipt of money to cover the additional transport costs of his disability.

So, do you get the mobility aspect of the DLA?

Contact SENTAS for help. Although school transport post 16 is discretionary, government guidance says that the balance should be in favour of providing transport for young people with SN. You can also point out that if or when he can't get to school because they won't provide transport, he won't be getting the SEN support that is in his EHCP, and they will be in breach of their statutory duty to provide that support. That is a serious matter and you could take them to court in his name (and therefore get legal aid funding) for that reason.

Can you claim ESA for him and use some of that, he should also be able to get free lunches too? Our LA sent out a letter saying something similar was their new policy and it still hasn't come in.

Do you get direct payments and could you use this to pay?

The guidance on 16 -19 transport says that costs paid by those with sen should not be more than paid by those without sen. If others are paying £10 a week to get to 6th form college then a contribution of £25 a week for those with sen doesn't seem reasonable.

Because if that is how it works, that is how it works. What else are you going to do if they aren't going to pay for it?

But it isn't how it works. This type of policy is in direct contravention of statutory guidance. Fortunately local authorities can generally be persuaded to comply by the threat of judicial review and having to pay court costs.

The mobility element of DLA is calculated on the assumption that councils will comply with their duties with regard to school transport; generally it is not intended to cover that sort of cost.

Becles No he does not. I was unaware I was avoiding the question, apologies.

He gets mid rate PIP now which in no way covers the cost of me being at home, the additional household costs of his SN, and his activities/therapies for his anxiety after being stuck in mainstream for most of his school career. I could have appealed for the higher rate but didn't have the energy.

I pretty sure he can't get ESA if he is not available for work?

And yes, it is the upfront demand of £300 which has put me into a tailspin.

I shall look into the resources OP have kindly posted about. Thank you.

Knitted . I know. It hit me badly last month when his twin brother was getting ready for Prom. First time I really sobbed and raged about it (in privacy after DS1 had left of course!). DS2 would have looked so unbelievably handsome in a smart suit in an alternate universe. In reality he will only wear pyjama bottoms with baggy tshirts and refuses to brush his very curly hair!

Where I live it’s £300 per term from age 11.

FidgetyFingers said: “He gets mid rate PIP now which in no way covers the cost of me being at home ...”

With the greatest of respect, any PIP (or ESA etc) your DC is awarded is not to cover the cost of you being at home. I say this with kindness, not to upset you, having a 37 year old severely learnig disabled DC myself, I do understand where you’re coming from. Have you claimed Carer’s Allowance? this is to “compensate” you for being at home. I say compensate, in reality it’s chicken feed (around £61 or so, from memory) but it does help.

I am well aware of that Baa and I knew someone would jump on it. I suspect that was why the question was asked.

In your own situation then, were you able to survive on one wage that paid enough to mitigate losing a £40k one, with the housing costs these days, or were you able to work as well?

I’m sorry if you felt I was ‘jumping on it’. I was trying to be helpful as the way you had written, together with you saying your DC had only been moved into a special school quite recently, it seemed you may not have enough information.

I was able to work, intermittently, between moving houses and countries, right up until my DC left education. I was then faced with the usual choices, hand DC over to ‘care’ or look after DC myself. I chose the latter. Even then I never gave up hope of working and managed to find myself a Saturday job which lasted until they closed down three years ago.

No-one likes having to give up careers and wages. No-one likes having to struggle. I have raged at the unfairness of it all, oh how I’ve raged - for 37 bloody years. It’s not made a blind but of difference.

For the helpful could you use ESA/DLA/PIP post theynars useful if someone doesn't know they exist. To try and spend said money for parents is sooo fucking annoying as it seems to be considered that this money is either several thousand pounds a month or elastic.
Things I spend my sons DLA on (barring in mind at 16 it is likely they may not get it not having a physical illness)
Paying one to one for afterschool clubs/ breakfast club any sort of club.
The other for specialist equipment.
My loss of wages as I now have to work part time due to constant calls from school and appointments with medical professionals.
Respite as we don't qualify for any from Ss. Cleaning when out as I cannot hoover when they are in as they can't tolerate the sound. Special clothes as they can't wear normal clothes. Transport to pick up medication, prescriptions hospital appointment, replace toys, basically anything they break which they do frequently.
Provide technology which will help them. Have a car because public transport is out. This list has taken me about 2 mins to write it so by no means comprehensive just top of the head stuff.
I am not looking forward to 16 as my twins attend schools at either end of our county and I live
Rurally and all those with their oh I live rurally tough! It's it not the same it really isn't my sons can not use a bus and their nearest school is not 3 miles away they are both over 11 miles away in totally different directions I don't get to choose which one fails to attend school because I will get in trouble however last year when the LA had no school for one of them for 8 months nothing happens to them! Because apparently that is fine!

"If so, the local authority are likely to justify the cost on the grounds that you are in receipt of money to cover the additional transport costs of his disability."

Income from mobility dla or PIP is almost always disregarded when providing benefits or services because it may already have been spent on necessary things such as mobility aids or transport to appointments.

Are there other (cheaper) options to get around your logistics issues.

I'm guessing other DC to get to school at same time. We looked at breakfast club/ friends for our younget so I could get oldest to school (also special school) and our middle son could walk. We won the transport battle though as DS1 is 14.

It's a lot of money to magic up at little notice. I wonder if you were able to offer £50 now and to set up a regular direct debit for the remainder if the council would budge on their stance.

If the child is legally required to be in education, work or training, and cannot attend a school closer to home because of his needs, the cost of transport should be covered, as nothing, to me, seems to be different about the situation than when it was covered, if that makes sense.

And if anyone is thinking, well, he could work in theory, that is not acceptable either. He should not be bilked out of his post-16 education because of his disability; that is direct discrimination.