With my flexi hour request?

[Yellowskies1988]

Posting here for traffic

Ok so I have a son who goes to special school 1.5 miles from home through town. Were not in the catchment area that offer transport through the school.

My wife doesn't drive but I do.

Our other son starts full time school in September in a school literally over the road from my house.

Wife had huntingtons disease and starting to show symptoms (aching alot, really feeling the cold, dropping things, falling over/poor balance etc)

Currently I work 2 shifts 6-14:00 and 14:00-22:00

I've requested 1 hour each shift to take our autistic son to his school in my car as we only have my grandparents around and my nan can't physically do it every day, no other family are around... was my request unreasonable? Work seemed to throw a number of "work arounds" at me which I suppose from a business point of view they have to, night shift work (which I can't do as my wifes illness i need to keep the kids in routine), look into paying for a taxi and providing a carer, I wouldn't know whom to contact for this but I wont rule it out. Moving our youngest son to a school closer to the special school, which will still involve my wife walking with them.

At the end of the meeting i had today (with my line manager and a member of HR) the HR dept are going to look into it by contacting a kind of union I suppose you would call it and get back to me.

Anybody got any other suggestions etc? My colleagues in my department feel my request could be covered, I've no objection to using the time as my breaks and I know it will go as unpaid.

Only thing I have is my youngest in a before/afterschool club.

Presuming the local authority were happy with the school selected, they should be providing transport - IPSEA website is good: www.ipsea.org.uk/children-with-sen-a-disability-or-a-mobility-difficulty

But don't start out battling, it may simply be an oversight. As the LA SEN officer has responded above, get in touch with your Statutory Assessment team and ask them why your son doesn't get transport, see what they say. If it needs to be written into his EHCP to be provided then ask for an immediate review of his plan so that can be done.

OP I worked in an SEN department and it is unlikely you would get transport based on distance alone as you're too close to the school. Usually 2mile from home and you could get it for primary school children. However your circumstances are a bit unusual so definitely worth speaking to the SEN department. If you can afford to 'bank' your sons dla then there may be an argument that you can contribute towards taxi, but see if the LA can organise the taxi and get an approved escort. Good luck

as a disabled person myself, I think you need to look into getting extra support with your circumstances.

@Isatis the letter states that because we are in 1.4 radius of the school then you will be responsible for travel arrangements

Yes, but the letter is wrong. Look at this ombudsman decision - www.lgo.org.uk/decisions/education/school-transport/18-006-369

Mummyshark, if you worked in an SEN department you should be aware that children with SEN and disability can be eligible for school transport irrespective of distance criteria.

@Isatis yes I did work in an SEN department for many years, and in different LA's and guess what - they all did things differently! That's why I said that the Op needs to see what is available in their LA. none if the LA's that I worked in automatically provided home to school transport for children with ehcp's, even when they were in special schools, unless they lived more than 2 miles from school or had a physical disability/medical need that prevented them from walking. If the above criteria was not met then it would have to be requested on a case by case basis through panel.

That's why I said that the Op needs to see what is available in their LA. none if the LA's that I worked in automatically provided home to school transport for children with ehcp's, even when they were in special schools,

If you are still in contact with any of the LAs for which you have worked, you might want to direct them to the LGO ruling linked in a previous post together with the legislation referenced in that LGO ruling. Distance is immaterial when considering provision of transport to a disabled child, and that is not something that individual LAs can take an individual opinion upon.

"Usual transport requirements (e.g. the statutory walking distances) should not be considered when assessing the transport needs of children eligible due to special educational needs and/or disability."

Mummyshark, the law on SEN transport applies in exactly the same way to every local authority in England - and that has been the case for a very long time. Your original post suggested that only distance criteria count, but, as your later post concedes, that is not the case.

Could you get an au pair who could do the driving and also help your wife out?

How's things @Yellowskies1988