£300 per week in Taxis - Am I missing something?
Discussion
Just come across the below article regarding parents spending £300 per week in taxis getting their 4 year old autistic child to school.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c9vpp3x4r98o
Whilst I don't doubt for one moment the parents are in a difficult position - the article states that neither of them drive, the blame seems to be swung on the local authority / government for not covering the cost.
So the total cost per year, give or take is £11.7k based on 39 weeks, over a period of 6 years - £70k.
Forgive me for being naïve, but would the solution here be to have one of them take driving lessons and purchase a car?
I know there are running costs, insurance, tax.etc - but I'm confident you could do it for less than £11.7k per year.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c9vpp3x4r98o
Whilst I don't doubt for one moment the parents are in a difficult position - the article states that neither of them drive, the blame seems to be swung on the local authority / government for not covering the cost.
So the total cost per year, give or take is £11.7k based on 39 weeks, over a period of 6 years - £70k.
Forgive me for being naïve, but would the solution here be to have one of them take driving lessons and purchase a car?
I know there are running costs, insurance, tax.etc - but I'm confident you could do it for less than £11.7k per year.
That child will become eligible for free school transport once they reach statutory school age. They’re attending the school named in their EHCP and a closer school can’t meet the child’s needs. The point of eligibility will obviously be less than a year away as the child is already four. I’m assuming the parents have decided learning to drive and running a car is not worth it.
Jasandjules said:
Not sure why the parents would not just get a motobility car and drive them?
Suppose by the time they get lessons, manage to get a test booked etc it will nearly be the point he can get free transport anyway.Personally for that distance I'd be looking at a cheap e-bike and trailer. Depends how bad the roads are in that area of course (and whether the lad will accept being transported that way). Even if you get them new at say £400 and £150 respectively, they'd have still paid themselves off in a few weeks plus you have a way to go and get your shopping etc.
The whole SEND system in the UK is broken, and transport is only one part of it.
In our case, the county pay for a taxi to take our son 40 miles (each way) to the nearest provision that can meet need. It must cost a fortune. We have suggested he share with a student we know well, who attends the same college/course. Apparently though this is too difficult for them to arrange. Our county closed down all the suitable local schools in order to save costs in the short term. We also considered moving nearer the college, however that would mean a change of county but because of this there is no guarantee his EHCP will transfer or that the same provision would be agreed. This basically means we're stuck where we are until he finishes his education.
Specialist therapies are endlessly delayed, or cancelled or ignored. So much that even he now says he's being set up to be on benefits, which is not what he wants!
In our case, the county pay for a taxi to take our son 40 miles (each way) to the nearest provision that can meet need. It must cost a fortune. We have suggested he share with a student we know well, who attends the same college/course. Apparently though this is too difficult for them to arrange. Our county closed down all the suitable local schools in order to save costs in the short term. We also considered moving nearer the college, however that would mean a change of county but because of this there is no guarantee his EHCP will transfer or that the same provision would be agreed. This basically means we're stuck where we are until he finishes his education.
Specialist therapies are endlessly delayed, or cancelled or ignored. So much that even he now says he's being set up to be on benefits, which is not what he wants!
AlexGSi2000 said:
Just come across the below article regarding parents spending £300 per week in taxis getting their 4 year old autistic child to school.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c9vpp3x4r98o
Whilst I don't doubt for one moment the parents are in a difficult position - the article states that neither of them drive, the blame seems to be swung on the local authority / government for not covering the cost.
So the total cost per year, give or take is £11.7k based on 39 weeks, over a period of 6 years - £70k.
Forgive me for being naïve, but would the solution here be to have one of them take driving lessons and purchase a car?
I know there are running costs, insurance, tax.etc - but I'm confident you could do it for less than £11.7k per year.
If one of them could drive, they could probably get a Motability car. I do think sometimes, this stuff highlights how "car-centric" everything is. Like if you can't drive and you don't live in, well London basically, you can go whistle...(probably whilst walking to wherever you need to be).https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c9vpp3x4r98o
Whilst I don't doubt for one moment the parents are in a difficult position - the article states that neither of them drive, the blame seems to be swung on the local authority / government for not covering the cost.
So the total cost per year, give or take is £11.7k based on 39 weeks, over a period of 6 years - £70k.
Forgive me for being naïve, but would the solution here be to have one of them take driving lessons and purchase a car?
I know there are running costs, insurance, tax.etc - but I'm confident you could do it for less than £11.7k per year.
I think the country has gone down a very bad path with education and special needs.
Allowing private companies to run schools and thus moving from doing what's needed to what makes them the most money.
I went into a few schools recently and I was shocked by 2 things. Firstly the facilities. Brand new, state of the art.
Second, the behaviour of the pupils. It was like a zoo. Staff were more like social workers. It really shocked me.
I went to school in the 80s and early 90s. I don't think anyone got a taxi to school, let alone having it paid for by the council.
I hear regularly that some schools have more special needs kids than regular kids. Its just baffling to me.
I have family who have kids in primary and a couple of them have "helpers" on a daily basis. Apparently 1:1. I am thinking, that's probably someone on £30k+ a year to hold the hand of a 7 year old for 6-7 hours a day. Meanwhile at home the kid just acts totally normal.
Allowing private companies to run schools and thus moving from doing what's needed to what makes them the most money.
I went into a few schools recently and I was shocked by 2 things. Firstly the facilities. Brand new, state of the art.
Second, the behaviour of the pupils. It was like a zoo. Staff were more like social workers. It really shocked me.
I went to school in the 80s and early 90s. I don't think anyone got a taxi to school, let alone having it paid for by the council.
I hear regularly that some schools have more special needs kids than regular kids. Its just baffling to me.
I have family who have kids in primary and a couple of them have "helpers" on a daily basis. Apparently 1:1. I am thinking, that's probably someone on £30k+ a year to hold the hand of a 7 year old for 6-7 hours a day. Meanwhile at home the kid just acts totally normal.
gotoPzero said:
I think the country has gone down a very bad path with education and special needs.
Allowing private companies to run schools and thus moving from doing what's needed to what makes them the most money.
I went into a few schools recently and I was shocked by 2 things. Firstly the facilities. Brand new, state of the art.
Second, the behaviour of the pupils. It was like a zoo. Staff were more like social workers. It really shocked me.
I went to school in the 80s and early 90s. I don't think anyone got a taxi to school, let alone having it paid for by the council.
I hear regularly that some schools have more special needs kids than regular kids. Its just baffling to me.
I have family who have kids in primary and a couple of them have "helpers" on a daily basis. Apparently 1:1. I am thinking, that's probably someone on £30k+ a year to hold the hand of a 7 year old for 6-7 hours a day. Meanwhile at home the kid just acts totally normal.
I doubt they'll are on 30k+ probably nmw or a bit above. Equally 1:1 for the whole week is very rare. Allowing private companies to run schools and thus moving from doing what's needed to what makes them the most money.
I went into a few schools recently and I was shocked by 2 things. Firstly the facilities. Brand new, state of the art.
Second, the behaviour of the pupils. It was like a zoo. Staff were more like social workers. It really shocked me.
I went to school in the 80s and early 90s. I don't think anyone got a taxi to school, let alone having it paid for by the council.
I hear regularly that some schools have more special needs kids than regular kids. Its just baffling to me.
I have family who have kids in primary and a couple of them have "helpers" on a daily basis. Apparently 1:1. I am thinking, that's probably someone on £30k+ a year to hold the hand of a 7 year old for 6-7 hours a day. Meanwhile at home the kid just acts totally normal.
borcy said:
gotoPzero said:
I think the country has gone down a very bad path with education and special needs.
Allowing private companies to run schools and thus moving from doing what's needed to what makes them the most money.
I went into a few schools recently and I was shocked by 2 things. Firstly the facilities. Brand new, state of the art.
Second, the behaviour of the pupils. It was like a zoo. Staff were more like social workers. It really shocked me.
I went to school in the 80s and early 90s. I don't think anyone got a taxi to school, let alone having it paid for by the council.
I hear regularly that some schools have more special needs kids than regular kids. Its just baffling to me.
I have family who have kids in primary and a couple of them have "helpers" on a daily basis. Apparently 1:1. I am thinking, that's probably someone on £30k+ a year to hold the hand of a 7 year old for 6-7 hours a day. Meanwhile at home the kid just acts totally normal.
I doubt they'll are on 30k+ probably nmw or a bit above. Equally 1:1 for the whole week is very rare. Allowing private companies to run schools and thus moving from doing what's needed to what makes them the most money.
I went into a few schools recently and I was shocked by 2 things. Firstly the facilities. Brand new, state of the art.
Second, the behaviour of the pupils. It was like a zoo. Staff were more like social workers. It really shocked me.
I went to school in the 80s and early 90s. I don't think anyone got a taxi to school, let alone having it paid for by the council.
I hear regularly that some schools have more special needs kids than regular kids. Its just baffling to me.
I have family who have kids in primary and a couple of them have "helpers" on a daily basis. Apparently 1:1. I am thinking, that's probably someone on £30k+ a year to hold the hand of a 7 year old for 6-7 hours a day. Meanwhile at home the kid just acts totally normal.
There is, as usual, a lot of misinformation in this thread. Talk of £27k personal transport budgets and the like...
The simple fact is at primary school age this child would be eligible for paid-for transport to and from school however in this country we place little value on the benefits of pre-school education, hence the rules in place around transport.
The cost of transport causes a lot of financial difficulties for local authorities however:
- if there was enough local specialist provision there would be less need for paid-for transport. But there isn't as SEND provision has diminished to save costs. Ironic.
- LAs use local taxi firms that charge a fortune per journey. What's more, they charge per child so 4 children doing the same journey in a taxi doesn't represent a cost saving to the LA, just additional profit for the taxi firm.
- For all the people saying "just get a bus"... this often isn't an option as the bus services are often non-existent in rural communities.
- People have mentioned moving home. In my experience it took us over 3 years of fighting the LA to get our daughter into a school that could meet her needs. The LA are now trying to reclassify her school (and all others in the county) such that she could be returned to mainstream education in the future. Do you really think it is viable to move closer to her school that might not be permanent? And then there is the issue of how I get my other daughter to school at the same time.
There are many things the LAs could do to improve this situation but instead of using common sense and forsight to solve an issue it is far easier to denigrade the parents as lazy and out for the benefits and trust me, nobody chooses to put their kids through this for a free taxi.
The simple fact is at primary school age this child would be eligible for paid-for transport to and from school however in this country we place little value on the benefits of pre-school education, hence the rules in place around transport.
The cost of transport causes a lot of financial difficulties for local authorities however:
- if there was enough local specialist provision there would be less need for paid-for transport. But there isn't as SEND provision has diminished to save costs. Ironic.
- LAs use local taxi firms that charge a fortune per journey. What's more, they charge per child so 4 children doing the same journey in a taxi doesn't represent a cost saving to the LA, just additional profit for the taxi firm.
- For all the people saying "just get a bus"... this often isn't an option as the bus services are often non-existent in rural communities.
- People have mentioned moving home. In my experience it took us over 3 years of fighting the LA to get our daughter into a school that could meet her needs. The LA are now trying to reclassify her school (and all others in the county) such that she could be returned to mainstream education in the future. Do you really think it is viable to move closer to her school that might not be permanent? And then there is the issue of how I get my other daughter to school at the same time.
There are many things the LAs could do to improve this situation but instead of using common sense and forsight to solve an issue it is far easier to denigrade the parents as lazy and out for the benefits and trust me, nobody chooses to put their kids through this for a free taxi.
gotoPzero said:
I think the country has gone down a very bad path with education and special needs.
Allowing private companies to run schools and thus moving from doing what's needed to what makes them the most money.
I went into a few schools recently and I was shocked by 2 things. Firstly the facilities. Brand new, state of the art.
Second, the behaviour of the pupils. It was like a zoo. Staff were more like social workers. It really shocked me.
I went to school in the 80s and early 90s. I don't think anyone got a taxi to school, let alone having it paid for by the council.
I hear regularly that some schools have more special needs kids than regular kids. Its just baffling to me.
I have family who have kids in primary and a couple of them have "helpers" on a daily basis. Apparently 1:1. I am thinking, that's probably someone on £30k+ a year to hold the hand of a 7 year old for 6-7 hours a day. Meanwhile at home the kid just acts totally normal.
There's so much nonsense in this post, I can't be bothered to pick through it.Allowing private companies to run schools and thus moving from doing what's needed to what makes them the most money.
I went into a few schools recently and I was shocked by 2 things. Firstly the facilities. Brand new, state of the art.
Second, the behaviour of the pupils. It was like a zoo. Staff were more like social workers. It really shocked me.
I went to school in the 80s and early 90s. I don't think anyone got a taxi to school, let alone having it paid for by the council.
I hear regularly that some schools have more special needs kids than regular kids. Its just baffling to me.
I have family who have kids in primary and a couple of them have "helpers" on a daily basis. Apparently 1:1. I am thinking, that's probably someone on £30k+ a year to hold the hand of a 7 year old for 6-7 hours a day. Meanwhile at home the kid just acts totally normal.
You're welcome to your opinion of course.
I know of somebody whose business is pretty much only school transportation of SEND children, and their car collection is very substantial.
In years gone by this sort of thing would have been done in-house, the LA could own the vehicles and the drivers could do other work in-between the school runs.
In years gone by this sort of thing would have been done in-house, the LA could own the vehicles and the drivers could do other work in-between the school runs.
AlexGSi2000 said:
Forgive me for being naïve, but would the solution here be to have one of them take driving lessons and purchase a car?
I know there are running costs, insurance, tax.etc - but I'm confident you could do it for less than £11.7k per year.
It may also be that both of them have a medical issue that means that neither would be allowed to get a licence...?I know there are running costs, insurance, tax.etc - but I'm confident you could do it for less than £11.7k per year.
I had an uncle and aunt that were both medically unfit to hold a car licence, so they spent their whole life having to rely on public transport or taxi's. They also never had kids though, because of said medical issues.
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