Son 'never leaves house' after special needs cuts

Parents of children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) have told the BBC they are still unable to attend school full time, four months after cuts to transport provision at a council came into force.

Birmingham City Council is making more than £300m savings over two years after effectively declaring itself bankrupt in September 2023.

It has withdrawn free home-to-school transport for most pupils over 16 who have SEND.

A council spokesperson said it had carried out an "extensive consultation process" and parents had been made aware of the changes.

Angela has been unable to get her son Jake, 17, to a specialist autistic school in Erdington since September.

She does not drive and the school is nine miles (14km) away from their home in Yardley Wood.

The "personal transport budget" offered by the council would leave her having to pay about £34 per day in taxi fares, an arrangement she cannot afford.

Jake has become more withdrawn than I have ever seen him," she told the BBC.

"He never leaves the house. He is struggling to find enjoyment in the things he used to love. I am worried about what this isolation will do to him.

"This has impacted my own mental state too. I am so overwhelmed with the constant battle that I'm exhausted. I've given up fighting a losing battle."

Jake's school is now funding a bus to take him to school one day a week, out of its own budget.

Angela is waiting for a date for a panel hearing to appeal against the cuts to transport.

Sian's 16-year-old son Tom, who has Down's Syndrome, received a minibus and chaperone to his special school in Erdington, about seven miles (11km) from his home in Harborne, until it was withdrawn in September.

The family now pays £100 a week for private transport on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Tom can only attend college erratically for the rest of the week, as and when his parents can take time out of their working day to take him.

"His absences this year are pretty high, but also his progress is really delayed," Sian said.

"He's effectively been denied his education at the school which the local authority have named in his Education, Health and Care Plan."

Birmingham City Council said it had maintained a level of support that enabled families to make their own arrangements and had been providing additional support to its most vulnerable students and families.

"Children who cannot travel independently are expected to be accompanied by their parents," a spokesperson for the local authority added.

However, that arrangement is impossible for some parents.

"There's a mentality that these kids don't matter, that they're not worth spending the money on to get them to school. It's just wrong," Sian explained.

"Someone, somewhere needs to apply some common sense. These buses are still travelling around taking children to [school] because they are taking children who are under the age of 16. It just defies belief."

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