Birmingham City Council is telling SEND families to pay more for transport

Parents of teenagers with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) will be told to pay more for transport to college or sixth form.

Birmingham City Council has confirmed cuts to its special needs transport budget, with taxis and minibuses no longer routinely offered to 16-18-year-olds from September.

Council-funded services, mainly used to transport pupils to special needs schools miles from their homes, will remain for younger children.

In an email to families, the local authority admitted the changes would be “difficult for some families” and said it had given as much notice as possible.

The cuts, which have drawn protests, include reduced funding for some of the city’s libraries.

And the department for children’s young people and families must find savings of £51.5 million in the next financial year.

Under the transport changes, support for 16 to 18-year-olds will be provided through a personal transport budget (PTB) or a public transport pass.

But families will be told to pay more, with their contribution deducted from the budget, rising from £780 to £1,028 per academic year.

Families on low incomes will still pay £390 a year for travel arrangements.

A public consultation on the review of the Labor council’s travel assistance policy was launched earlier this year, with the authority admitting that its proposal “involves a reduction in what is provided”.

“This is not something that the board wants to do, but rather considers itself to be driven by the current financial situation,” he said.

The council also admitted that the proposed increase in parental contribution may impose a “significant financial burden”, particularly on families with more than one child, potentially discouraging students from pursuing higher education.

Conservative councilor Adam Higgs said: “Every child, regardless of disability, should be given the opportunity and encouragement to thrive educationally.

“This is a very emotional topic on all sorts of fronts for families and carers,” added Labor councilor Jayne Francis during a cabinet meeting in April.

“But I was pleased to see that we continue to offer the same level of support to our compulsory school-aged children and over-19s.”

Council leader John Cotton previously accused the government of causing wider financial problems at local council level, but First Minister Rishi Sunak insisted the authority had mismanaged its finances.