Taxis to school are ‘lifeline’ for children with special needs but councils face ‘unsustainable’ transport costs
England’s largest councils have told Sky News they’re facing a “simply unsustainable” funding crisis due to the soaring cost of transporting children with special needs to school.
More money is now being spent on taxis and minibuses for SEND (Special Educational Needs or Disability) pupils by county councils than on family, youth and sure start services combined.
School transport budgets are being described by the County Councils Network as “increasingly out of control”.
Some even face future bankruptcy if expenditure on special needs school transport stays the same, without intervention, it said.
It is also warning some “discretionary services”, such as libraries and recycling centres, may have to be cut.
A report by the Isos Partnership, released early to Sky News, predicts the cost of sending children with educational needs to school will top £1.1bn in the next five years.
That figure would mean costs tripling over a decade from £397m in 2018/19 to £1.1bn in 2027/28.
The number of pupils eligible for free school transport has increased by 120% in the same period from 58,000 to 129,000.
The increase in cost is driven by the “explosion” in the number of children receiving Education, Health and Care Plans (ECHPs), which set out support needed including transport.
ECHPs are legal documents that all councils must adhere to.
The number of children on these plans has doubled in eight years from 105,000 to 230,000 this year.
The same number of SEND students are also now using cars and taxis as they are minibuses to get to school.
Councillor Tim Oliver, chair of the County Councils Network, describes the rising costs of transport as the “single biggest pressure” facing councils.
He told Sky News the current situation is “simply not sustainable”.
“The consequences are that if we can’t balance the budgets, then we will have to stop other services,” he said.
“It’s as simple as that… the discretionary services, so technically that will be the libraries, some councils may have to close their libraries or shorten their hours.
“We will have to look at the cost of the recycling centres.
“The statutory responsibilities are to look after vulnerable people and vulnerable children, social care responsibilities, everything else broadly are discretionary services so all of those potentially will be at risk.”
The County Councils Network is warning of a £4bn funding deficit over the next three years.
One in 10 councils say they are at risk of insolvency this year, rising to four in 10 in 2024/25 and six in 10 by 2025/26.
Council leaders are calling on the government to step in and provide an “emergency injection of resources” in next week’s autumn statement mini-budget.
Lyndsay Critchlow says the money to get her two sons to school is a ‘lifeline’
Lyndsay Critchlow’s two sons have been diagnosed with Autism and Pathological Demand Avoidance (PDA).
Both Harvey, eight, and William, 10, attend a special school around a 40-minute drive away from home.
Their parents can’t drive, and so the boys are transported to classes using a private taxi and personal assistant paid for by the council.
It costs around £17,000 a year.
“It is a lot of money,” Lyndsay says, “but there was nowhere around here that we could find that could meet their needs”.
“Their anxiety is the lowest I’ve ever seen… it’s a lifeline”.
Harvey Critchlow’s brother, William, also attends a special school
Eight-year-old Harvey says he really enjoys going to school now “because they understand me more”.
The boys’ father, Philip Critchlow, also describes the difference in his sons: “Two years ago they were completely different children than what you see today.
“Quite literally, they were quiet and inattentive, maybe saying the odd thing.
“And it was heartbreaking to see. Now they get to be children again.
“And that’s worth more than anything.”
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A government spokesperson said: “Every child should have access to a high-quality education, including those with special educational needs.
“Councils are responsible for providing the right support for children in their areas, including school transport.
“Our published SEND and AP improvement plan sets out how we will make sure all children with special needs and disabilities receive the support they need.
“We are also putting significant investment into the high needs budget, which is increasing by a further £440m for 2024-25, bringing total funding to £10.5bn – an increase of over 60% since 2019-20.”
A man has been remanded into custody charged with child cruelty offences after allegedly lacing sweets with sedatives.
Jon Ruben, 76, of Ruddington, Nottinghamshire, appeared at Leicester Magistrates’ Court on Saturday after youngsters fell ill at a summer camp in Stathern, Leicestershire.
He has been charged with three counts of wilfully assaulting, ill-treating, neglecting, abandoning or exposing children in a manner likely to cause them unnecessary suffering or injury to health.
The charges relate to three boys at the camp between 25-29 July.
The scene in Stathern, Leicestershire. Pic: PA
Ruben spoke only to confirm his name, age and address.
Police received a report of children feeling unwell at a camp being held at Stathern Lodge, near Melton in Leicestershire, last Sunday.
Officers said paramedics attended the scene and eight boys – aged between eight and 11 – were taken to hospital as a precaution, as was an adult. They have since been discharged.
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Police said the “owners and operators of Stathern Lodge are independent from those people who use or hire the lodge and are not connected to the incident”.
Leicestershire Police has referred itself to the Independent Office for Police Conduct, after officers initially reported the incident as having happened on Monday, only to later amend it to Sunday.
It is still unclear when officers responded and whether that is why the watchdog referral has been made.
Ruben will next appear at Leicester Crown Court on 29 August.
A bishop who interrupted a church concert in his dressing gown – and told singers to “leave his house” – has formally apologised to the choir.
Jonathan Baker was filmed standing barefoot at a microphone as he criticised performers for making a “terrible racket” at St Andrew’s Church in central London.
Addressing the City Academy Voices choir directly, the bishop of Fulham said: “I write to apologise for the distress and offence I caused in bringing the concert to a premature end.
“This should not have happened … I also apologise for remarks which were made in haste, and which have understandably caused hurt and distress.”
The bishop, in his dressing gown, gave the choir a dressing down
Mr Baker had demanded for the performance to stop because it was 10pm – and says he didn’t realise the choir had booked the church until 11pm.
In the statement obtained by Sky News, he added: “I have lived here on site at St Andrew’s for 10 years, for much of which City Academy has rehearsed and performed here.
“You have been, and continue to be, welcome – and I hope that you will be able to continue the relationship with us.
“I can give you every assurance that the events of Friday evening will not recur, and I apologise again to performers (especially those unable to perform at the end of the evening) and the audience alike.”
The choir performed their last song
The choir was performing to a 300-strong audience in Holborn when the lights were suddenly turned off, with Mr Baker declaring the concert was “over”.
A church employee then asked the crowd to leave quietly and for the musicians to step down from the stage, attracting boos from the audience.
The choir went on to perform one last song, an A cappella version of ABBA’s Dancing Queen, before bringing their show to a close.
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Jonathan Baker has apologised
One member of the audience, who was attending with his 10-year-old daughter, told Sky News he initially thought the interruption was a staged joke.
Benedict Collins had told Sky News: “This work deserves respect, not to be disparaged as a ‘terrible racket’. The people here had put their heart and soul into it.
“The bishop cut them off in midstream, preventing soloists who had worked their hardest from singing – and preventing the audience, which included people of all ages, from enjoying it to the end.”
The choir told Sky News it was “upsetting” that they were unable to finish their show as planned, but “hold no hard feelings and wish the bishop well”.
A spokesperson added: “If anyone is thinking of joining one of our choirs, the City Academy Voices rehearse on Mondays in central London. Dressing gowns optional.”
The Online Safety Act is putting free speech at risk and needs significant adjustments, Elon Musk’s social network X has warned.
New rules that came into force last week require platforms such as Facebook, YouTube, TikTok and X – as well as sites hosting pornography – to bring in measures to prove that someone using them is over the age of 18.
The Online Safety Act requires sites to protect children and to remove illegal content, but critics have said that the rules have been implemented too broadly, resulting in the censorship of legal content.
X has warned the act’s laudable intentions were “at risk of being overshadowed by the breadth of its regulatory reach”.
It said: “When lawmakers approved these measures, they made a conscientious decision to increase censorship in the name of ‘online safety’.
“It is fair to ask if UK citizens were equally aware of the trade-off being made.”
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What are the new online rules?
X claims the timetable for platforms to meet mandatory measures had been unnecessarily tight – and despite complying, sites still faced threats of enforcement and fines, “encouraging over-censorship”.
“A balanced approach is the only way to protect individual liberties, encourage innovation and safeguard children. It’s safe to say that significant changes must take place to achieve these objectives in the UK,” it said.
A UK government spokesperson said it is “demonstrably false” that the Online Safety Act compromises free speech.
“As well as legal duties to keep children safe, the very same law places clear and unequivocal duties on platforms to protect freedom of expression,” they added.
Users have complained about age checks that require personal data to be uploaded to access sites that show pornography, and 468,000 people have already signed a petition asking for the new law to be repealed.
In response to the petition, the government said it had “no plans” to reverse the Online Safety Act.
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Why do people want to repeal the Online Safety Act?
Reform UK’s leader Nigel Farage likened the new rules to “state suppression of genuine free speech” and said his party would ditch the regulations.
Technology Secretary Peter Kyle said on Tuesday that those who wanted to overturn the act were “on the side of predators” – to which Mr Farage demanded an apology, calling Mr Kyle’s comments “absolutely disgusting”.
Regulator Ofcom said on Thursday it had launched an investigation into how four companies – that collectively run 34 pornography sites – are complying with new age-check requirements.
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These companies – 8579 LLC, AVS Group Ltd, Kick Online Entertainment S.A. and Trendio Ltd – run dozens of sites, and collectively have more than nine million unique monthly UK visitors, the internet watchdog said.
The regulator said it prioritised the companies based on the risk of harm posed by the services they operated and their user numbers.
It adds to the 11 investigations already in progress into 4chan, as well as an unnamed online suicide forum, seven file-sharing services, and two adult websites.
Ofcom said it expects to make further enforcement announcements in the coming months.
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