People who know about benefits and/or personal travel budgets for disabled children...

[SelkieSeal]

My 13 yr old goes to a specialist school 12 miles from home (not a fast 12 miles to drive either due to the type of roads etc, it's usually well over an hour's round trip). There is no public transport, as in absolutely none, that goes there. And obviously no wrap-around care because parents of disabled children don't work so don't need things like that [sarcasm]

He was getting transport in a taxi arranged by the LA but due to difficulties recruiting taxi drivers the LA are now offering a personal travel allowance instead, and for parents to then make their own travel arrangements with the money.

They've written to me offering me a weekly travel budget which sounds like a lot of money** but in reality it would be only just about enough for a taxi, if I could find one to do it (rural area, not many taxis round here so often you end up needing to call one from a bigger town miles away which obviously then costs more). I would probably end up with a mishmash of doing it myself some of the time (with obvious impact on my job, as I'll need to start late/finish early to manage it) and paying various friends or occasional taxis to do it the rest of the time. Unfortunately I don't have any friends or family who would be able to just do it every day and lift sharing with other school parents isn't possible as the school takes from such a wide area and no other families live near enough us for it to make sense.

But my main concern is, would this money be considered to be income by UC (which I claim as I am only able to work part time due to DS needs) or by HMRC for tax purposes? I'm worried that if I take it I'll just lose it from my UC and then I'll end up being responsible for the costs of transporting DS to school but without the actual budget to do so! And I don't trust UC to get it right either so I need to be completely certain of the law here.

**this being MN I'm not about to say how much money, because I know I'd just get wanky comments, but trust me I'd swap every single penny to have a 13 yr old who was able to do what most 13 yr olds take for granted

No it's not counted as income and refuse the offer it's not acceptable.

It's a lot more acceptable than what they offered previously (mileage at 35p/mile) but I know what you mean, they're trying to push the responsibility onto parents. Nothing new there...

Locally the issue was the council had restricted number of taxi licences (presumably under pressure from local companies who didnt want too much competition) but that meant at peak times for school transport there were not enough drivers. They have had to pay for drivers to come from other areas (at vastly increased expense). I would refuse, once your child is 16 its more of a grey area what parents have to do but under 16 they have a clear duty to provide transport so I would insist. Go through the complaints and ombudsman route if necessary to get it in place. You wont be able to find taxis. If the council cant find one then there wont be any at the times you need them which is why they are pushing it on to you.

No, it isn’t counted as income.

You do not have to accept the personal transport budget. If you need help challenging it, SENTAS can help.

Ok thanks all for the confirmation about income.

I know I don't have to accept it but I'm genuinely worried about there being no transport for DS in September and I'd rather take the responsibility myself than risk him being stressed out by there not being anything in place the day he starts back. I totally realise that is the game the LA are playing, and I am furious about it, but I also know that they really will just leave him with no transport and I'll end up doing it myself with no budget whilst we wait for the legal route to play out, which I can't afford to do...

Returning to this to beg for more advice...

I refused the budget because I felt unable to take the full responsibility for travel arrangements. My LA have sent a very snotty email saying "a taxi for a single child is not an efficient use of scarce resources" so now I have to appeal it. But the appeal will take 30 days and won't be sorted in time for the start of term, so how does DS get to school in the meantime? As I haven't accepted the personal budget there's no financial assistance and I genuinely can't afford to a) take time time off work and b) suck up the fuel costs.

What should I do? DS has to be there when term starts, it's not an option for him to miss even one single day. The LA know this and they have me over a barrel don't they... They're basically playing chicken with me as they know I won't let him down if it comes to it. I could cry.

Depending on the specific circumstances, JR may be possible, so I would try to speak to SOSSEN about whether it is, and if it is possible in your situation (from your posts I suspect it is) email the Director of Children’s Services threatening JR then get a pre-action letter if that doesn’t work. This is likely to be quicker than an appeal, especially if the threat is enough, but still may not be from the beginning of term, unfortunately.

Have you spoken SENTAS?

Thanks. I will be copying the director of children's services into my reply with the completed form and a very sternly worded email! But bottom line is my LA just... don't give a fuck. They literally don't care. It used to be that once they realised you know the law, they'd back down. Not any more. They just ignore you, completely ignore you, and make you go allllll the way because in the meantime they're saving money.

I've been in touch with SENTAS a few weeks ago who helped me word my original appeal - which it turns out wasn't treated as an appeal despite starting off with "this is a formal appeal" - so now 6 weeks later I'm only at the start of their official appeals process 🙄 Emailed SENTAS again this evening with the update and a plea for more advice though!

Sadly, the changes you describe in your LA are widespread. It is why getting someone to take parents on for pre-action letters/JR proceedings isn’t as easy as it once was.

Hope you get it sorted out before school resumes.
Try mp,but Jr and use sossen.
As your ds is school age and school is named on his ehcp. He's entitled to transport.
Does your county start with k.
Ours is cutting back with transport, especially if over 16/18.
Our dd placement is nearly 6 miles away.
Have put in for taxi for college placement, as everyone comes from different areas.
It's on a busy A road, but bus stop is down a lane.
So no way we would send her on her own.
Nearly 22 with ehcp which is still waiting to be updated.
At a push for us it's a walk , bus then a mile walk the other end.
So not 100% Impossible, but will knacker dd and us.

I have seen that PTB (personal transport budgets) is showing as not income!!
How does that work with UC, as that would be money coming in?
i am a single full time carer for my LO and he gets a taxi service at the moment, (yes it's not great). We average 39 different appointments (medical) yearly. Its a lot!!
I worked for years, then the amount of appointments caused issues with my working enviroment, i was known as the woman that's only their now and again, (they all knew about my LO, it made for a awful working relationshipS, another app?? Depression set in because of it. (Woe is me, is far from the truth)

i was considering doing the taxi run myself, as i care for him already, it's no skin of my nose, he also gets respite (which is one issue Ref taxi)
But i do get help from DWP im on income support currently changing to UC, If its not classed as /service provided by an individual, how does this effect the UC outcome For working wage.

Need help

A PTB doesn’t reduce UC because it isn’t classed as income/earnings.

I'm really confused about this, if you do the school run yourself and keep the money (rather than pay for a taxi) is it definitely still not earnings? I'm in the process of migrating to UC and cannot get a straight answer on this from anyone, but I really need to work it out and preferably find legislation/case law to refer to.

I know a PTB in itself isn't income/earnings but if I pay someone else to do it then that would count as their earnings, so what's the definitive answer if I do it myself and keep the money?

I think unfortunately more and more councils will begin to do this / actions like this as their budgets are squeezed more and more. I don't think it's clear that Labour will fund LA's any better than the conservatives are currently funding them so I think lots of LAs will strip more and more services to the minimum possible.

A PTB is not classed as earnings or capital. Unfortunately, many UC advisors are not aware of this. It should be disregarded under schedule 10 of the Universal Credit legislation. It is not your money. It is DC’s money paid to you on their behalf in order to fulfil to LA’s duty to meet DC’s needs due to their disability. It is money instead of the LA commissioning such provision directly. If it was earnings for you it would have to be paid at a much higher rate.

Fantastic thank you, I've looked up and screenshotted that part of the regulations to show if needed!