FEATURE FOCUS: SEND


Home-to-school transport was already broken for SEND students – could now be the opportunity to fix it?


I


n our second look at SEND this month, we’re delighted to hear from Liz Davidson,


Chief Marketing Officer at QRoutes, developers of a routing engine designed to meet the needs of local authorities planning school and SEN transport. Liz discusses the effects of the coronavirus pandemic on school transport and particularly on the provision for children with SEND.


Coronavirus has permeated into every corner of


society, but as the pandemic progresses it is obvious that we’re not ‘all in it together’. Some of us are more ‘in it’ than others and it is generally the most vulnerable and marginalised that feel it most. There are many examples of this, but this article will focus on school transport. In the build-up to the return to school this


September, the Government issued guidance on how authorities might safely manage this, including home-to-school transport. However, it didn’t fully address one of the most complex and sensitive areas: provision for children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND). UK local authorities spend in excess of £1bn on


home to school transport every year. A report published in 2019 found that 69% of the budget is allocated to SEND provision, just 26% of children. The national average for journey to school for a SEND child is around £11 each way. These figures are a snapshot of a changing situation. SEND entitlement is growing year on year, so costs of provision are, naturally, growing too. The money has to come from somewhere and, over the last five years, pressure on budgets has led to 27% cuts in discretionary services for mainstream students. With climate change


looming, fewer school buses is the wrong direction of travel. But, to be clear, this article doesn’t challenge SEND entitlement; it challenges how that entitlement is fulfilled and questions whether some authorities could do better on value for money in SEND transport provision.


Planning transport for SEND pupils Questioning whether SEND transport planners could do better is a statement that will raise some heckles. It is a difficult job. Children with SEND requirements present a unique challenge. Many have complex personal needs and may attend more than one site in the week, for example for additional therapies. Specialist schools are often far from the child’s home. Planners need to combine the individuals’


varied needs, the trips (where they’re going when) and then match to locally available supply in order to deliver trips within policy to avoid extended journeys which can distress students. Meanwhile there is often a lack of flexibility on


the supply side. Firstly, operators tend to only maintain fleets that they can keep busy all day, meaning the demand for vehicles is particularly intense at peak times. Secondly, the rise in home deliveries has exacerbated the already intense industry-wide competition for drivers. And finally, SEND children often need passenger assistants, a role for which it is difficult to recruit as it is low- paid and only offers few hours work a day during the school-term. The nature of the transport often means that drivers and support workers have to come into close contact with each child, putting both parties at risk - and some children with disabilities are unable to wear a mask. Long journeys on poorly ventilated buses have led to


28 www.education-today.co.uk October 2020


complaints by drivers, who are naturally concerned about their own welfare. In some areas, the combination of all these factors swings the balance of power to the operators. Authorities are stuck between the needs of the


children and families, the growth in demand, and the limitations of the market. As I say, nobody is suggesting the job is easy.


‘That’ll do?’ However, under the pull of conflicting forces, are authorities settling for ‘that’ll do’ routing? As costs escalate, a lack of scrutiny of the quality of routing solutions all too often leads to excessive costs, which eat into the budget and undermine the provision for the children and their families. Many local authorities spend weeks during the


‘planning season’ using free online tools such as Google Maps, or even physical maps and pins to manually plan out a route for each child. It’s a


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