Sen transport to school stressing me saying ds is not eligible

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We live 2.2 miles away from the Sen high school ds is starting this September. The threshold for transport is 3 miles, if you live in this you may not be eligible for transport. They now want evidence of why ds cannot walk the 1 hour journey to and from school, other than his diagnosis of autism and not being able to walk this journey alone what else am I meant to provide ?!
He already receives transport to his Sen primary in which we live just under the 2 miles threshold.

I don’t drive so am not able to take ds to school, ds dad works and cannot be available twice a day to take ds and pick him up. We also have 2 toddlers who need to be in nursery for 9am.

I am so so stressed out, also I cannot get in touch with anyone from the send team, they still haven’t told me ds has got a place at the high school, I emailed and rang numerous time, all ignored, in the end I had to phone the actual high school and ask if ds was on the list. Please help.

Very few non-disabled 11/12 year olds are incapable of getting themselves to school where the school is less than 3 miles away. If it is more than 3 miles awy then they are entitled to home to school transport anyway.

She's explained why. And by law it is the local authority 's duty.

And more might say that that is a truly r

And more might say that that is a truly ridiculous comment.

Thank you - you are very kind!

We've always thought it important to help him with the skills he needs to function in society. It absolutely terrifies me that one day he will be without us. In the meantime, we have to do everything we can to ensure he can do everything he is capable of.

His challenges explain why he can't do some things without help, but it is not a reason to stop supporting him.

Since leaving college he has managed to get a paet-time job in a local chain bakery shop. He catches 2 buses each way and he is well supported by them. Ladies love him because he is so polite - I'm so proud of him.

He finds it difficult to communicate when he has a need, eg, the dentist, doctors, paying a bill etc, but it is our job as parents to help him to get better at these things and to learn to do things that he can't. Whatever it takes is what we will do, if it's possible!

Well yes that is what I was trying to say about the poster who was saying it. Not my opinion obviously.

Why? It's a sensible enough question

Well then she needs to just provide the evidence asked for tgen. So should be no problem

My son was diagnosed at age 17 i was told he was "just being a child" and to "take toys try a star chart and limit sugar" his younger brother is objectively worse than him had he been diagnosed rather than dismissed delayed fobbed off he might not have so many anxiety issues and health problems and yes I might not have had his brother

Perhaps the NHS could try diagnosis over gaslighting and support over denial

Not the case of the OP though is it if the eldest has been in a special school through primary. So she knew he had extra needs before having more kids

There is no money. Budgets for SEN transport have been slashed to the bone. I’m not sure what part of that people don’t understand.

There is £2.32bn which is spent according to legal criteria. It's not exactly "no money" is it?

Obviously the OP needs to demonstrate her child meets the criteria.

It's not the OP's job to ensure the state can meet its legal commitments.

Im a little confused because Op said no communication from SEND team about which school has been allocated but also has a EHCP with the school named in it, presumably (or possibly not depending on LA) that this was done for Feb deadline. If this is the case, then surely the LA has communicated with the op.

I don't think there's any "surely" with LAs! Mine hasn't spoken to me or DD ever (only letters and emails with no person's name on) and hasn't been in touch AT ALL in the 2 years DD has had an EHCP...

What part of the obligation to provide school transport to eligible children do you not understand, @Thegladstonebag? There is nothing In the statute that says local authorities are exempt from that obligation if they choose not to allocate enough money to their school transport budget.

Our local council claimed to be unable to afford this and SEND support, yet somehow managed to find the money to put a totally unnecessary fountain in the town centre.

Have you not had an annual review meeting? If so, you need to make a fuss about that. If you have had annual review meetings, your LA must write to you within four weeks of the meeting to say whether they are going to maintain the EHCP, cease to maintain or amend it. Again, if they haven't one that you should make a fuss.

So what? Does the fact that he has siblings mean that he is not entitled to access the school which is able to meet his needs?

Sounds like both caseworker and transport have stonewalled all her emails & calls since though, which is normal for LA SEN but deeply frustrating all the same. This utter stonewalling is not something I've come across in any other sphere of life, and it's actually quite bizarre given these roles are meant to be public service. But the culture is so toxic, I think, that they have their own rules of engagement.

Yes we've had two annual reviews but nothing from the LA - although I will check their portal as they do sometimes "send a letter" by uploading a pdf there and not telling anyone...

@Thegladstonebag as LAs have been shown time and again, lack of funding, resources and staffing are not lawful excuses for not complying with their duties. I’m not sure what part of that some people don’t understand.

@Phineyj the AR process should be as follows:

1. Updated advice and information must be circulated at least 2 weeks prior to the AR meeting. (
2. Then you have the AR meeting.
3. Within 2 weeks of the AR meeting, a report must be circulated.
4. Within 4 weeks of the AR meeting, the LA must inform you if they propose to amend or not. If they are, they must send the amendment notice/draft/notice of amendment/proposed amendments (whatever the LA/you want to call it) at the same time and you must be given at least 15 days to comment on the amendments and state your preferred placement.
5. Then if the LA is going to amend, they must finalise within 8 weeks of sending the proposed amendments, so max of 12 weeks from the AR meeting.

If this doesn’t happen, you can challenge the LA. You don’t have to accept unlawful behaviour.

There must have been communication with the OP if she has a finalised EHCP naming the secondary placement. The finalised EHCP confirms the placement.

The question was about have more bloody kids with one that's already high needs not the LAs responsibility

You do realise this is now on the SEN board for you know SEN support ?

Thanks - steps 1 and 2 are happening. Step 3 happened last year when I chased school. We're at step 3 again this year. I'll chase (no doubt the school are waiting for the LA...)

I had a similar thing when DD started junior school. At her infant school, which was 15 minutes walk away, our journeys home often took an hour, as she would sit down and refuse to walk. I was terrified about what our school runs from the junior school, which is a mile away, so around 25 minutes walk would end up like, so in the June I first contacted her EHCP coordinator about it. As always they were going through staff changes, so my plea for help wasn’t answered until September, when the coordinator had to dig around to find out the process of applying to the Transport Exemption Panel, which I did, and then heard precisely nothing. No acknowledgment, no follow up from the coordinator asking how I was coping. Luckily she got better about walking home, and my DH mostly WFH, so can walk out and rescue us if she is being a pain, which she still does once or twice a week, even now (she is in year 5). Because things started improving I didn’t chase up in the end, but am not looking forward to having to deal with them once she goes to secondary school (hopefully will be a moderate learning disability specialist school about 25 mins drive away),…

For DC on the roll of a school, the school should circulate the report after the meeting. Although the LA is still responsible for the overall AR process.