Parents in Kent winning fewer appeals against county council for free home-to-school taxi transport for children

The number of parents winning appeals to get home-to-school taxi transport for their children has halved in the last year.

Kent County Council (KCC) figures show that, in 2024, less than a third of cases were successful at tribunal compared to a high of 64% in 2020.

In the last year, the local authority’s bill for losing appeals has shrunk from nearly £400,000 to just less than £60,000.

The cost of ferrying pupils to classes has spiralled in recent years, often linked to children awarded Education and Health Care Plans (EHCPs).

In late 2023, it was revealed transport for youngsters with special education needs (SEN) would cost the tax-payer £60 million in the financial year. More than 6,000 pupils were getting free taxis to classes in Kent and the bill was set to soar further.

However, the authority, which has faced severe financial pressure in recent years, is determined to get those costs under control.

Of the 137 appeal cases heard in 2024, only 40 (29%) were successful. Those will cost Kent tax-payers £58,078, or £1,450 per pupil.

In 2023, 142 appeals were heard by the panel but 80 (56%) were passed at a total cost of £396,000, or £4,950 per individual.

In 2020, during the pandemic, the number of successful appeals hit a 64% high.

Appeals are successful for a number of reasons such as financial hardship, medical needs, zero cost to the council, the child’s safety or the family’s circumstances.

When the issue was discussed at the KCC regulation committee on Tuesday (January 21), Liberal Democrat member Cllr Ian Chittenden expressed worries price was becoming a driving factor in the drop in costs.

He told colleagues: “I hate to think that we are being influenced by anything other than the evidence.”

Conservative Cllr Susan Carey said: “It is quite legitimate that cost is one of the elements.”

Deputy cabinet member for finance, Cllr Harry Rayner, said later that the cost for pupil taxis rose sharply in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.

He said contracts have been renegotiated and the “net spread wider” for transport providers to reduce the cost per student.

Cllr Rayner added the latest bill for taxis to carry students to school is now at the £70m mark, less than the feared £80m it was expected to rise to.

He said: “At the end of the day, this is tax-payers’ money we’re talking about here. My job is to make sure that we get 100 pence worth of every pound of tax-payers’ money.”

Independent Swale member Cllr Mike Baldock said the tribunal panel system is “very thoughtful and well-conducted”.

He added: “I don’t have a great deal of concern about who sits on them and how they are carried out.

“I think we would be in serious trouble if we were to allow the cost implications to impact decisions…you would potentially open us to challenges and that’s not a good route to take.”