SEND Transport Summary Report

04/09/2024

Shropshire Council previously announced plans to consult on their current Specialist Transport Provision, specifically their discretionary grant offer to those aged under compulsory school age and 16+. To date, PACC has contributed the voices of the SEND community through the review that took place in October 2022. Including sharing the results of a transport survey from October 2022 with the review team. This feedback also influenced conversations and proposals that PACC presented to the Assistant Director for Education and Achievement.

PACC are clear that any changes need to take full consideration of the impact on the community and have appropriate time and investment made in developing solutions without detrimental impact on any members of the SEND Community.
It is a statutory requirement that all children up to the age of 18 are able to access a suitable education provision to meet their needs, in the case of those with SEND up to the age of 25. This means that while the specialist transport offer may be discretionary, the right to access education still needs to be applied. For those young people where a specialist placement is required, or a suitable educational provision cannot be found within their local community, there will be a need to ensure they can access this safely and appropriately. This may mean that Education Health and Care Plans will need to consider transport requirements in the future in more detail than they already do.

To ensure that we are championing the voice of the SEND community, PACC shared an updated transport survey in March, asking about their experience and also their child/ young persons experience of SEND transport and the impact not having SEND transport would have on their family.

112 Parent Carers completed the survey, of these 107 children and young people have an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP). You can read the summary report here.

PACC would like to thank all the Parent Carers that have taken their time to provide feedback.

PACC is aware that a number of concerns about issues with SEND Transport Provision have been shared across local social media groups, following the return to school/college.  We have made the SEND Transport Team aware of this but to fully address these concerns we require further details about individual experiences.  Please complete this short survey to inform PACC's discussions with the SEND Transport Team.You can access the survey here.