SCHOOL TRANSPORT
NEWCASTLE CITY COUNCIL WARNS OF SEVERE STRAIN ON BUDGET AS SCHOOL TAXI COSTS SPIRAL
Spiralling costs for taxis for school transport are putting yet more “severe” strain on stretched council finances in Newcastle. Civic centre bosses have warned of “significant pressures” on its child- ren’s social care budget, at a time when the authority is grappling with how to cut its spending by £60m over the next three years. According to a new report, there has been a 35% jump in the council’s taxi bills for children in its care – from £782,000 in 2022/23 to a projected £1.2m by the end of the current financial year. And that figure only accounts for the 110 to 150 children in the social care system, not the hundreds more SEND children for which the
council also has a legal duty to provide home-to-school travel. The Northern Agenda newsletter reported last May that Newcastle City Council was spending almost £167,000 weekly on taxis for those children, amid worries about the sky-high transport costs. The authority was meant to save £155,000 on its school taxi spend for children in care this year under previous budget cut plans, but has instead seen costs go dramatically in the other direction – something it blames on inflation and reduced availability of taxis. A council spokesperson said: “The rising cost of providing taxis for children in social care is a national issue which is placing many local
authorities under severe financial pressure. “We are looking to try and reduce these costs by reviewing high-cost arrangements to see if there are more economical providers. “We have also set up a dedicated in-house transport team to im- prove intelligence on taxi spend, drive efficiencies and regularly review if travel arrangements are appropriate.” Overall, the council’s children’s social care services are expected to overspend their 2023/24 budget by just over £3m – with the price of a “small number of very high cost placements” in external residen- tial accommodation contributing to the bulk of that.
PHTM FEBRUARY 2024
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