School transport funding decision to be reviewed

A decision to cut post-16 transport for special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) children and young adults in Leicester will be reviewed.

The move to reduce the service was confirmed by Leicester City Council on Tuesday, and means few SEND students over the age of 16 will be offered dedicated home-to-school taxis or a seat on council-funded transport.

Council documents state the cut, set to come into effect from the start of the 2025/26 academic year, will save money by "reducing entitlement".

It will now be discussed at a meeting of the council's children, young people and education scrutiny commission on 22 May.

If the cuts remain in place after the move has been scrutinised, the city council has estimated the savings will be £2.1m per year.

Elaine Pantling, assistant city mayor for children and young people, defended the move, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

"Many councils stopped funding post-16 transport some time ago, while in Leicester we have continued to support it for as long as we can," she said.

"Unfortunately, our financial position means we can no longer do this."

Five Labour councillors – Stephen Bonham, Melissa March, Lynn Moore, Yasmin Surti and George Cole – called the decision in for further examination.

In a joint statement they said: "We feel that this is such an important policy it requires scrutiny oversight."

A spokesperson for the city council said if the scrutiny commission decides to send the decision on to full council, it cannot change a decision made by an executive member.

The spokesperson added: "If [it] sends the policy to full council, they could recommend a change to the decision – i.e. scrap it entirely or make specific changes – but the executive member who made the decision has to then decide whether to accept the council recommendation or not."

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