Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 27
27
Accepted
In written evidence, the Association of Directors of Children’s Services (ADCS) raised its concerns about...
Conclusion
In written evidence, the Association of Directors of Children’s Services (ADCS) raised its concerns about the unsustainable pressure that the costs of SEND transport were placing on local authority general budgets, noting that these transport costs are not covered by the Dedicated Schools Grant. ADCS explained that the current legislative framework allows parents of children with an EHC plan to express a preference for a school outside their local area and requires local authorities to pay for associated transport, even where there is an appropriate school closer to home. In this way, ADCS asserted, statutory duties that were intended to be funded through the high needs block of the Dedicated Schools Grant were increasingly placing additional pressure on local authority general budgets.67 64 HMT, Budget 2025 Document, 28 November 2025, section 5.5 65 Qq 53-64 66 Local Government Finance Settlement 2026–27 to 2028–29, HCWS1315, 9 February 2026 67 The Association of Directors of Children’s Services (HTS0011); C&AG’s Report, para 1.19 17 Integrating education and transport planning
Government response summary AI-generated
The government agrees and states the recommendation is implemented. It outlines how SEND reforms aim to reduce home-to-school transport costs by 2031-32, and details new data collection, a new funding formula, and forthcoming guidance to promote cost-effective travel.
Summary of the government's response below — read the verbatim text to verify.
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government · verbatim extract
Accepted
1.1 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Recommendation implemented 1.2 The reforms set out in SEND Reform: Putting Children and Young People First aim to create a more inclusive school system, enabling more children to succeed in local mainstream settings. As fewer children will need to travel long distances to access appropriate education, home-to-school transport (HTST) costs are expected to reduce over time. 1.3 Estimates of the impact of the reforms are generated by modelling how cohorts of children move through levels of support and provision, drawing on historic national trends, population projections, capacity assumptions and expected policy effects, and are validated against past data using linked education datasets to illustrate system-wide trajectories. Further detail is available in Background on Projections. 1.4 The department expects the growth in Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs) to slow through to academic year 2029-30 as investment builds mainstream capacity and supports earlier intervention, including via £3.7 billion of capital investment in state specialist places. From 2029-30, the reformed system will be in place, with embedded early support, year-on-year reductions in the proportion of pupils requiring EHCPs, and around a quarter of specialist provision delivered within mainstream schools by 2035. 1.5 As a result, the rate of growth in national HTST spending is projected to rapidly slow in the period to financial year 2031-32, and thereafter total spending expected to start to fall steadily, year-on-year, as more children can thrive in their local mainstream school. Final projections are subject to policy decisions pending closure of the SEND consultation. 1.6 Meanwhile, the department has introduced a new HTST data collection to support benchmarking and the sharing of good practice; worked with MHCLG on a new funding formula; and will publish new guidance promoting strong partnerships and cost-effective travel. Wider initiatives – including the Bus Services Act 2025, School Streets, Bikeability and investment in active travel – are enabling more children to travel sustainably to school.
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