Leicestershire County Council has pledged to continue working closely with families around changes being made to post-16 special educational needs transport following a court ruling today (Tuesday, 7th April).
The pledge follows today’s unanimous decision by the Court of Appeal that the county council’s SEN transport policy is lawful.
The council now plans to introduce the new approach to home-to-school transport funding in the next 18 months.
Introducing a new policy was a tough decision for us to make. Families have understandably raised concerns and we’re committed to working closely with them over the next 18 months.
We welcome today’s judgment and, as the leading judge acknowledged, the council has to make ‘difficult choices in straitened financial circumstances’.
Person:Councillor Blake Pain, acting deputy leaderThe council says it had already decided to pause the introduction of the new policy until September 2021 – to end uncertainty as the appeal court outcome was awaited.
This followed last month’s hearing into an appeal on limited aspects of a High Court ruling last year, which similarly decided that the policy was lawful and dismissed a Judicial Review on all grounds
The new policy was due to be introduced in September this year after being paused in 2019 as the outcome of the original High Court hearing was awaited.
Under the new policy, the council provides direct financial support through a Personal Transport Budget (PTB).
The policy also recognises that individual transport solutions may be required for certain children with disabilities. The policy allows the council to consider exceptional circumstances on a case-by-case basis.