EHCP transport use it or lose it [COVID]

[tarantinotpf]

My son (1) gets transport as part of his EHCP (a shared bus). However since April my son has been extremely anxious about using the shared bus because of COVID, and as my husband and I are working at home because of COVID, we have been able to transport him to school and back. Usually we would both have about an hour commute, so would leave soon after the school bus pick up.

So, I keep cancelling the transport on a weekly basis, confirming he is too anxious to travel. I am feeling morally uncomfortable about keep cancelling (as I think the transport company probably charge the council), especially as I can see the COVID thing continuing, his anxiety continuing, us working from home continuing. However, I also don't want to cancel it in case I lose it when things return to normal, especially as I know how hard we fought for this in the first place.

Any one else in a similar situation? Any advice? Any longer term repercussions on transport post 16?

Is it not worth e-mailing them, explaining the situation, and asking if you can 'suspend' the place whilst you are wfh, with a guarantee it will still be there when you have to go back to WOTH ?

I know in our LA, Travel assist is having a nightmare trying to make routes work, with some sort of distancing, and some effort to try to not mix bubbles too much, so would be absolutely delighted for someone to say they weren't going to need to use it for 3 months or whatever, rather than having to factor them in to routes which then aren't used week after week.

If you do it by e-mail you will have that paper trail.

I swapped from transport to mileage before Covid but during Covid they were very keen for those claiming mileage to remain. Post 16 is very local authority determined.

Boulshired - tell me more about mileage? Are you able to claim expenses for this instead of transport?

It is something that is agreed with the transport department, so will be different depending where you are. In my case DS2 cannot be with other children and needs at least 1:1 so mileage is the best option for them and peace of mind for me. They have a set rate per mile.

Yes, you could ask for a personal budget instead, they would probably be very happy to do that. It might be harder getting transport back in future though if you stop WFH. Post-16 is separate and dependent on your circumstances at the time.