County Council "U-Turn" on Charges for Transport for Post 16 Disabled Children

UPDATE 16th August 2010

Autism Concern, together with other third sector providers, met with Northants County Council, to ensure that a comprehensive consultation process is implemented, following their “U-turn” on their decision to implement a charging policy for SEN post 16 transport.

Autism Concern will continue to work with parents and partners in the sector to ensure that a fair and equitable outcome is reached for all concerned parties. The consultation will be managed through the Aiming High parent forums already in existence but unfortunately not used before the announcement. A number of forum dates have already been set for the Autumn term and these will be given the focus of feeding into the consultation. All stakeholders in this issue which includes parents, schools and the voluntary sector will be invited to contribute to this process. We will keep you informed of dates and further developments as we receive them.

UPDATE 28th July 2010

"The start of a controversial new post-16 transport policy has been deferred by Northamptonshire County Council for six months following a furious backlash to the proposed changes". Chronicle & Echo 28th July 2010 Click HERE to read full article

Autism Concern continues to gather information to inform the impact on families independently of the review being undertaken by Northamptonshire County Council between now and January 2011.

Please continue to register your personal experiences as this information will be collated and form the basis of the next stage of our campaign to call a halt to the policy changes.

Click here to read the latest BBC Northamptonshire article

For more information and to have your say - click HERE!

UPDATE 27th July 2010

Listen to BBC Northampton radio report - click HERE

Listen to Look East radio report - click HERE

Autism Concern together with Special Needs- Informed Parent (SN-IP) are working with voluntary agencies and support groups to challenge the County Council’s decision to introduce this unfair amendment to the existing policy. Please continue to register your personal experiences as this information will be collated and form the basis of the next stage of our continuing campaign to call a halt to the policy changes

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Background Context:

Earlier this year Northampton County Council reviewed its Post 16 Transport Policy relating to disabled children and an updated policy has recently been published.

With no prior warning, consultation or recourse for discussion families and carers of Post 16 individuals currently in receipt of transport received a formal letter this week outlining the changes to this policy and Autism Concern has since been inundated with telephone calls to our help & advice line with queries and criticism about the new policy.

In basic terms the changes in this policy mean that most parents/carers will now be expected to pay at least 50% - 100% of their post 16‘s transport costs to their school, college or training provider. In most cases these costs are expected to be paid by parents/carers in advance by 16th August 2010.

This change of policy is too late to allow parents/carers and young people to make an informed decision about their education for September 2010 as these decisions had to be made months ago to secure placement. These decisions were made based on the published policy at that time.

Many of the parents/carers who have contacted us are extremely distressed and frustrated about the new policy as they will now be expected to pay between £1,000 - £10,000 if they want their post 16 son or daughter to continue to attend further education.

Please note that the letter sent to parents/carers was dated 13th July 2010 and applications for support are expected to be returned by 2nd August 2010.

Our immediate assessment, based on parent/carer reports, suggests the following negative impacts:

Immediate Impact:

Overnight parents are faced with bills of between £1,000 and £10,000 – with the average being approximately £3500.
Only 2 weeks given from date of letter (13th July 2010) to date which application has to be submitted (2nd August 2010).
Less than one month before parents/carers expect to pay up front for transport costs (16th August 2010).
No prior warning or consultation given regarding this policy change.
No recourse for discussion or clarification.
Author of letter went on annual leave the day after letter was sent out.

Discrimination Impact:

Autism Concern believes that this new policy is:

Potentially discriminatory against post 16 students
Potentially discriminatory against students with special needs
Potentially in breach of Equality and Human Rights Legislation.

Emotional Impact:

To parents/carers there is an immediate feeling of bewilderment, disempowerment and despair
Increased stress for those who already have additional caring responsibilities.
Uncertainty surrounding the immediate arrangements for transport
Uncertainty for the future
How can I share this with my child?

Financial Impact:

Immediate significant additional cost to families.
Additional cost to community in added care cost of care packages.
Additional costs to community to support carers.
Undermines the investment in educational facilities for Special needs provision post 16.

Logistical Impact:

Balancing other family and work commitments will now be more difficult for parents/carers
parent/carers at risk of having to give up jobs
What assurances will we have that our children will be safe and proper consideration is given to their needs?
What happens in September?

Future Planning Impact: