Home to School Travel Assistance for pupils with Special ...

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Public report
Cabinet Member
18th July 2012
Name of Cabinet Member:
Cabinet Member (Education) – Councillor Kershaw
Director Approving Submission of the report:
Director Children, Learning and Young People
Ward(s) affected:
All
Title:
Home to School Travel Assistance for pupils with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities
Is this a key decision?
No
Executive Summary:
The Local Authority has taken a number of actions to improve the arrangements for home to
school travel assistance for pupils with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND). This
has been in the context of a significant overspend on the allocated budget (£800k in 2010/11).
The Council engaged iMPOWER Consultancy with the aim of identifying efficiencies whilst
preserving services and reshaping its relationship with citizens. Significant work has been
undertaken particularly with regards to providing independent travel training for appropriate
secondary aged special school pupils and the provision of personal transport budgets to parents
of pupils in special school provision. This work has been successful in terms of supporting young
people to become independent and give them valuable skills for life and giving greater choice and
control to parents, as well as securing a reduction in spend for the council. In addition to this
officers continue to ensure tighter control and to secure efficiencies in the operation of the home
to school travel assistance programme.
Recommendations:
Cabinet member is asked to endorse the actions taken to date and the ongoing work with
regards to this area.
List of Appendices included:
None.
Other useful background papers:
List here – required by law. Will include officer research and advice documents which members
or the public request from the report author. Show Title, date and location of reports/documents,
contact details of where to get this from e.g. website/URL.

Changing Behaviours – Opening a new conversation with the citizen. Nigel Keohane.
Website: www.nlgn.org.uk.
Has it been or will it be considered by Scrutiny?
No
Has it been or will it be considered by any other Council Committee, Advisory Panel or
other body?
No:
Will this report go to Council?
No
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Report title: Home to School Travel Assistance for pupils with Special Educational Needs
and Disabilities
1. Context (or background)
.
1.1 The Children, Learning and Young People's directorate has continued to work to identify
ways in which home to school transport might be better managed, offer better outcomes
for children and young people and provide greater choice and control for parents. A range
of measures to improve the budgetary position of the Special Educational Needs transport
budget have been taken forward.
2. Options considered and recommended proposal
2.1 A range of measures to improve the budgetary position of the Special Educational Needs
(SEN) Home to School Transport budget have been taken. These include:
tighter decision making and linking responsibility for the budget with the manager
of the team who makes the decisions on placement for pupils with SEND
significant work has been undertaken with colleagues in procurement around the
tendering process, with the use of e-tenders. Three special schools in the city -
Corley, Castle Wood and Three Spires - each have a single provider for the
school which also supports better communication between the school and the
single contractor.
Joint working between SEN Management Services and the Travel Bureau to
ensure that routing is as efficient as possible
The greater involvement of special school headteachers to ensure efficiencies
The changed arrangements to support nursery aged pupils with SEN following the
closure of the two enhanced resource nurseries in July 2011 which has resulted
in savings of £0.1m in a full financial year).
2.2 The City Council also commissioned support from Impower consultancy with the aim of
identifying efficiencies whilst preserving services and reshaping its relationship with
citizens. Focus groups of parents with pupils with SEND were held to seek their views and
look for new ways of working. Following this work two key work streams were established
to take forward the provision of Independent Travel Training (ITT) and Personal Transport
Budgets.
2.3 An additional Independent Travel Trainer was appointed to the Travel Training Team
based in Community Services. Two staff now focus their work on school aged pupils. The
aim is to support young people to improve their independence skills which also reduces the
number of adults needing training in subsequent years. This work initially focussed on
pupils attending Alice Stevens Special School. 26 pupils were successfully trained in the
second half of the academic year 2010/11 and 31 pupils have been travel trained to date
this academic year. ITT is now also being undertaken at Woodfield and Sherbourne Fields
Special Schools for appropriate young people in those schools. Savings of £0.3m pa are
forecast by 2013-14.
2.4 The Local Authority also developed a scheme to offer Personal Transport Budgets to
parents. A Personal Transport Budget (PTB) is an amount of money provided to parents of
pupils with SEND who are eligible for travel assistance, in lieu of council transport
provision. They are designed to be voluntary, tailored and non-prescriptive. They also
financially benefit parents who can negotiate better deals locally, joint commission and
spend money more imaginatively.
2.5 Following financial modelling a level of PTB was established. Parents of pupils at Castle
Wood were used as a "pilot" which proved that an appetite for PTBs existed amongst the
target group, with 12% of parents offered a PTB accepting. This was then rolled out to the
rest of the special school population.
2.6 In the summer of 2011 all parents of pupils transported to the local authority's special
schools were contacted and offered a PTB (approximately 650 families). As a result, 116
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families whose children were previously using transport or who would have taken up
transport, are now receiving a PTB (16% take-up). The amount of money provided in a
PTB is based on the distance the child lives from the school. This is then paid directly into
the parent's bank account on a monthly basis. The pricing level is designed to be high
enough to incentivise parents to accept a PTB, while being low enough to deliver savings
for the council compared to council-provided/funded transport. Feedback from young
people, their families and the schools involved has been very positive.
2.7 The take up in 2011 amongst existing transport users was 14%. The take up for new users
was 26.5%. If this is representative then the level of PTB take up should increase over
time. Officers are currently making an offer of a PTB to the new reception intake to special
schools and those transferring from primary special to secondary special. Savings of £0.2m
per annum are forecast by 2013-14.
2.8 In accepting a PTB, a parent agrees in writing to:
Be responsible for arranging safe and timely travel to school
Inform the Council SEN Team if the child’s needs change or they no longer wish to
receive a PTB and want to access other forms of travel assistance instead.
The attendance and punctuality of children with a PTB is monitored by the SEN Team and
schools, and if this drops below an acceptable level, the PTB can be stopped by the Council.
Beyond this there is a deliberate lack of restrictions or guidance on how the money is spent,
and parents are not asked to account for expenditure.
2.9 The support offered by Impower consultancy cost £153k of which £73k was paid for from a
ringfenced grant from the DFE. There are no further costs expected from Impower that
relate to this project. This cost is set against forecast savings over three years 2011/12 to
2013/14 of £892k
2.10 This work will be kept under regular review and work will continue to improve arrangements
and make efficiencies. Officers will in particular be considering how ITT and PTBs can be
offered to pupils in other provisions in the city.
3. Results of consultation undertaken
3.1 Through initial work with Impower, focus groups were set up with parents of pupils who
attended specialist provision in the city. The purpose of these groups was to develop a new
relationship with parents and to find new ways of engaging them in shaping the service.
The aim was to move away from a "one size fits all" model. Participants were asked to
comment on a range of questions including readiness to volunteer, views on personal
budgets, travel advice and parents escorting children to school, and improvements to the
service generally. The feedback reflected a desire to see a more responsive and
empathetic service which understood the needs of families within this area. Participants put
significant emphasis on the independence and normalisation of their child.
3.2 The impact of the new arrangements were discussed with parents by Impower as part of
their work. The feedback on both travel training and the provision of personal transport
budgets was very positive. Examples of the comments made by parents are given below:
A went to school in a minibus and it took him 20 minutes to get there. A’s mother feels absolutely
fine with A being travel trained. It took about a month and a half to travel train A. When he was
travelled trained it took him about 45 minutes to get to school, a bit more, but he stated that he
enjoys the independence. ‘He is much more confident now and travels all over the place, He
went to Birmingham last night to have a night out with his friends. He would not have been able
to do that before he was travelled trained’ ‘Would you recommend travel training? ‘oh! very much
so’
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R was taken to school by car by her mother. It was difficult for her mother to ensure that the time
the minibus was going to pick her up fitted with the medication and R's readiness, but on the
other hand taking her by car was more expensive. R’s mum was very impressed by the Personal
Transport Budgets, and the increase in choice of control for parents it represents, as well as the
savings it represents to her.
J before took a minibus and took her what feels like a ‘very long time’ to get to school. J felt
scared about travel training, but she did find it very easy. The journey feels ‘shorter’ than it did
before. She enjoys the independence, and is now able to get out and about to see her friends
and join activities when she wasn’t able to do that before. She feels it has given her more
independence. She feels safe and alright when she travels.
T gets to school by minibus and takes her a ‘very very long time’ to get from home to school. T
enjoys the travel training and the independence she will have, but finds it difficult to remember all
there is to remember’. She is excited about being able to see her friends that go to other schools
and go to town to socialise and join activities.
3.3 In addition an independent researcher from SQW consultancy met a randomly selected
group of parents who have received a personal transport budget. SQW are reviewing this
work as part of the review of the Individual Budgets pilot of which Coventry is one of 6 pilot
authorities. The researcher reported that the feedback from the parents group was 100%
positive about the personal transport budget system. This research will be published
shortly.
3.4 There has also been on-going discussions with other services involved in this work as part
of the change management process. This has included City Services, Procurement
Services, the Travel Bureau and Special School Headteachers. Trade Unions have been
given a briefing on the work.
4. Timetable for implementing this decision
4.1 Independent travel training and the offer of personal transport budgets have been made
since summer 2011. This work is now embedded and part of the normal offer to
pupils/parents. Parents of pupils moving to secondary special school provision have been
offered a personal transport budget and parents of pupils starting at primary special school
provision are currently being made this offer at the conclusion of their child's statutory
assessment. The outcome of the level of take up will determine the level of transport
provision which the Council will need to make for the start of the next academic year.
4.2 Officers are continuing to ensure that efficiencies are made to this area of work wherever
possible. This will include financial modelling to see whether there are other areas that
personal transport budgets could be extended to.
5. Comments from Director of Finance and Legal Services
5.1 Financial implications
5.1.1 The Home to School Transport budget has been significantly overspent for several years
as a result of the level of provision provided and cost of transport commissioned. The table
below outlines the level of budget and spend over the last 4 years and highlights the
savings that have been achieved in 2011/12:-
2008/09
£'000
2009/10
£'000
2010/11
£'000
2011/12
£'000
Net Budget 2,915 2,959 3,245 3,448
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Net
Expenditure
Over/(Under)
spend
3,877 3,821 4,038 **3,412
962 862 793 (36)
** Includes a £300k one off contribution from DSG.
5.1.2 A range of measures were introduced to address the budgetary pressure, which are
outlined in section 2 of this report.
5.1.3 The commissioning of Impower consultancy resulted in two new initiatives; Personal
Transport Budgets (PTB) and Independent Travel Training (ITT). The forecast savings
from the introduction of these initiatives were as follows:-
PTB
£
ITT
£
Total Saving
£
2011/12 Forecast Saving 51 4 55
2012/13 Forecast Saving 168 141 309
2013/14 Forecast Saving 224 305 528
Total 443 450 892
5.1.4 The reduction in transport costs in 2011/12 excluding the £300k contribution from DSG was
£326k. This is from a combination of the following;-
Impower consultancy work on PTB and ITT - Impower
Service challenge around decisions on placements - CCC
Procurement work including e-tendering and single provider model with some
schools - CCC
Improvements in efficiencies from work with Travel Bureau and schools - CCC
Closure of 2 enhance resource nurseries - CCC
It has been possible to allocate some of the £326k directly to Impower initiatives or CCC
initiatives as follows but some savings have been achieved through a combination of the
two:-
Initiative
Saving
£'000
Impower – Direct 35
CCC Internal - Direct 85
Combination 206
Total 326
5.1.5 The £300k DSG contribution was a one off in 2011/12. It is forecast this reduction will be
offset by the increase in savings in 2012/13 which will allow spend to remain within budget
in 2012/13.
5.1.6 At this time, take up of PTB's for the September 2012 academic year is not yet known but
work will continue to monitor the cost of PTB's and ITT against savings to ensure they
remain in line with forecast. Alongside this, work will continue to ensure that further
efficiencies are achieved.
5.1.6 Finance will continue to monitor spend against the Home to School budget as part of the
budgetary control process and any variances reported to CLYP Leadership Team.
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5.2 Legal implications
To include reference to specific legal powers or criteria and appropriate legislation and, if
required, details of what legally needs to be achieved in order to satisfy the proposals.
The Council is required in the case of an "eligible" child (which includes a child with special
educational needs, a disability or mobility problems) to make free of charge suitable travel
arrangements (to and from the relevant educational establishment) for the purposes of facilitating
a child's attendance at school where no suitable arrangements are already provided free of
charge (s508B Education Act 1996). Travel arrangements can be made by a child's parents
provided that they are made voluntarily.
In determining the arrangements for transport provision for "eligible children" the decision maker
providers are subject to equalities legislation, specifically s149 of the Equality Act 2010 which
requires that the arrangements do not discriminate against children on the basis of any
"protected characteristic" (disability, age, gender reassignment, pregnancy and maternity, race
religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation) when determining the arrangements for the
provisions of transport. The Council decision makers must have ongoing due regard to the 3
aims of the Equality Duty: to eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment, victimisation and any
other conduct prohibited by the Act; advance equality of opportunity between people who share a
protected characteristic and people who do not share it; and foster good relations between
people who share a protected characteristic and people who do not share it.
"Due regard" requires more than an awareness of the Equality Duty. It requires rigorous analysis
by the decision maker
6. Other implications
Any other specific implications
6.1 How will this contribute to achievement of the Council's key objectives / corporate
priorities (corporate plan/scorecard) / organisational blueprint / Local Area
Agreement (or Coventry Sustainable Community Strategy)?
This work contributes to the Council's key objectives in a number of ways. In particular it
supports young people in becoming independent thus improving their life chances and
employability.
It also provides greater choice and control for parents which is in line with the Government's
objectives as contained in the SEN Green Paper and Progress and Next Steps Document.
Coventry is already providing parents with the offer of a personal budget which it is proposed will
become a requirement from 2014.
6.2 How is risk being managed?
The Independent Travel Trainers have received appropriate training. Special School staff
who know their pupils well advise the City Council on which pupils are appropriate/ready for
travel training and this is done in agreement with parents. Pupils are only signed off as
ready to travel independently when staff are certain they are safe and have been given all
appropriate strategies. The sign off journey is undertaken by a different colleague to the
one who has provided the travel training. If any concerns are subsequently raised or a
young person's situation changes then they can be returned to transport if required.
There is a financial risk to the Council in funding personal transport budgets but not being
able to reduce routes. The level of PTBs was set to take account of this and careful
financial monitoring is undertaken.
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6.3 What is the impact on the organisation?
One additional post has been established in the independent travel training team based in
Community Services on a spend to save investment. The work on personal transport
budgets and personalised approach to parents has been picked up currently within existing
resources in the SEN Management Services team. Reductions in escorts and drivers was
achieved through natural wastage.
6.4 Equalities / EIA
The new systems of working have not altered eligibility for home to school travel
assistance.
6.5 Implications for (or impact on) the environment
These changes have increased the number of vehicles on school sites which are managed
by headteachers on a site by site basis. Shared options are actively being promoted where
possible.
6.6 Implications for partner organisations?
None.
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Report author(s):
Name and job title:
Marian Simpson Senior Officer, SEN Management Services
Directorate:
Children, Learning and Young People
Tel and email contact:
Tel: 024 7683 1588
E mail : marian.simpson@coventry.gov.uk
Enquiries should be directed to the above person.
Contributor/approver
name
Contributors:
Richard Adams
Robert Orton
Elaine Atkins
Title
Lead
Accountant
Senior
Accountant
Solicitor, Legal
Services
Directorate or
organisation
Finance & Legal
Services
Finance & Legal
Services
Finance & Legal
Services
Date doc
sent out
Date response
received or
approved
Names of approvers for
submission:
(officers and members)
Richard Adams
Robert Orton
Elaine Atkins
Lead
Accountant
Senior
Accountant
Solicitor, Legal
Services
Finance & Legal
Services
Finance & Legal
Services
Finance & Legal
Services
This report is published on the council's website: www.coventry.gov.uk/councilmeetings
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