Brent Council is asking families with children and young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) for their views on proposals to update the Council’s Travel Assistance Policy. LINK
The consultation is open for another 3 weeks. There have been only 11 responses online so far.
The Home to School Travel Assistance policy provides support to help children and young people to travel to school when they might otherwise be prevented by disability or special need.
The service currently supports approximately 1,300 children and young people in Brent. The council must provide travel assistance to children aged between five and 16 who meet the criteria set by the Department for Education.
Parents have previously expressed dissatisfaction with the service that is shared with Harrow, over issues such as long journey times and difficulty in accessing help and called for a review. LINK The draft policy makes no bones about the fact that reducing the cost of the service to the Council is a significant part of the review:
Budgetary considerations: Free travel to school is a valuable service for many families, but budget pressures mean the Council often has to make difficult decisions about how to make the best use of the limited resources.
Face to face and online sessions are taking place with parents and carers to discuss the experiences and needs of local families, and in particular those with children with SEND.
Councillor Gwen Grahl, Cabinet Member for Children, Young People and Schools said:
Every child and young person is entitled to education and no one should be prevented from accessing it because they cannot travel to school. We want all of our children and young people in Brent to have the best start in life. It’s really important that people feed into this consultation so that our Home to School Travel policy enables those who need it the right support to travel to one of our great schools.
The Council says the proposed changes to the policy also reflect the ambitions of the Brent SEND Strategy for 2021-2025, which focuses on the council’s ethos to allow children and young people in Brent to lead happy fulfilled lives. The consultation is open until Sunday 14 April. Its findings will help shape the final policy that will be approved by the Cabinet later this year. Those interested can read the draft policy and have their say online, on the council’s consultation page
There is an emphasis on children travelling more independently rather than relying on the school transport service. However, this will often mean parents escorting their children.
EXTRACTS FROM THE DRAFT POLICY
The Education Act 1996 and this policy use the phrase ‘travel assistance’ because the form this takes will vary and often does not involve the Council providing any transport at all. The Council will determine what is appropriate in each case, taking account of its legal obligations, the needs of the applicant, safety considerations, the best use of the Council’s resources, any expressed preference and any other relevant matter. In order to achieve as much independence and as much active travel as possible, when reviewing travel assistance applications, we look at the potential options in the following order:
Travel pass – This is a free pass in the form of an Oyster Card that is available for use on public transport such as buses and is the most common form of travel assistance provided. Brent Council considers that this will be suitable for the majority of children and young people up to the age of 16.
Personal Travel Budget – This is a sum of money provided to parents/carers/guardians of children who are assessed as eligible for travel assistance. This allows parents/carers/guardians to arrange personalised, flexible travel arrangements that suit the needs of their child and family.
The sum provided is based on the safe walking distance between home and school and the number of days per week the child or young person is scheduled to attend school or college.
Parents/Carers/Guardians can use a PTB in any way they deem necessary to ensure their child/young person attends school regularly and arrives and leaves on time. Parents will not need to provide any evidence for how the money is spent. PTBs will not affect any of the other benefits the family already receives.
If attendance falls, Brent Council will contact the parent/carer/guardian and review whether the PTB is still the best mode of travel assistance. As a result of the review, the travel assistance offered may change to a more suitable mode or PTBs reduced or withdrawn, depending on consultation with the school and family.
The parent/carer or adult individual then assumes full responsibility for the travel arrangements and getting the child or themselves to their place of education on time and achieving good attendance. It is anticipated that the use of personal travel budgets can meet most individual needs and the Council encourages their use wherever appropriate. The provision of travel budgets can be offered in a number of ways such as mileage allowance.
Provision of a Travel Buddy – A travel buddy may be provided to accompany a child, young person or adult to their place of education whether using public transport or on Council provided transport. A travel buddy will only be provided where they are necessary for the safe operation of vehicles and/or the care of children and young people and where parents or carers are not reasonably able to accompany them
Transport vehicles – If we have considered and ruled out all other options, we may provide a suitable vehicle, specifically adapted as necessary, to transport the child or young person. Vehicles and drivers are provided by a suitably qualified, registered, commercial provider working to contractual standards set by the Council.
In general, vehicles are routed to pick up a number of children from different locations who attend a particular school. Therefore, journeys can be relatively long, and the child or young person will spend more time in the vehicle than with other forms of travel assistance.
Each route will be planned on the basis of the start and finish times of the place of education and the shortest possible route for all passengers on a particular vehicle. Passengers will be picked up and dropped off at a convenient location, within a reasonable distance from their home, in many cases from recognised bus stops. A home pick up and drop off will only be made where it is deemed essential due to the individual’s significant needs.
If your child is accessing a collection point, you will be responsible for ensuring that your child gets safely to and from the collection point at the appropriate time. If your child’s travel assistance offer requires them to walk to a collection point, then it is expected that an adult will accompany them where necessary. You will also be responsible for your child when they are waiting for transport and when they leave the transport at the end of the day.
In the event of an emergency, late running of the service, or an adult not being present at a collection point, children will be taken to an agreed safe point for collection.
§ Other – The Council may provide any other form of travel assistance which is considered suitable and will consider any suggestions from applicants about any particular type of travel assistance.
There is an online consultation session tonight from 7pm until 8.30pm:
Other sessions (note the St Raph's event is on Tuesday 26th March - Brent Council omitted the date):
What's the point, Brent Council ignore residents views
ReplyDeleteThe point is that Brent's decision, which they have probably already made, could be challanged through a Judicial Review if they don't hold a consultation.
DeleteI can understand why some Brent residents, who may have children with special needs, feel disatisfied with the services provided by Brent Council.
ReplyDeleteAfterall, if 'cost-cutting' is the deciding factor in this case,
public consultations will naturally have limited value to local residents
who instinctively want the best for their children, but know that limited funds will determine the outcome.
In such circumstances, one can only imagine the anxiety, stress, and frustration that such residents feel as the services they and their children depend become ever more susceptible to alteration due to the financial instability that rests upon the shoulders of Rishi Sunak and Jeremy Hunt.
Brent Council have also wasted an awful lot of our hard earned council tax money and local funding on lots of dubious projects after poor decision making.
DeleteFor example the £17.8million of our NCIL money that Brent Council gave to multi-billion pound property developer Quibtain for their vanity project amd completely unnecessary new steps outside Wembley Stadium - that money should have been spent on vital local projects all over Brent!!!
And despite all the proposed cuts to services the local councillors have just voted themselves increases in their allowances for this year.
Many jobs come with annual salary increases. If you think this is shocking wait until you hear how much MP salaries are going up by.
DeleteAnd how much money has current The Mayor of London wasted on pointless vanity projects???
DeleteHe will squander at least £6.5million on the completely unnecessary rebranding of the London Overground Lines - yet at our hugely busy Wembley Central Station the toilets (male, female and disabled!) have been closed for repair since at least last September and TFL cannot tell us when they will be repaired.
Londoners must surely see the lack of sense in some of his decisions and vote for change.