Young disabled people and their parents speak out on post 16 school transport cuts in England
3 mins read
Wednesday 13 August 2025
Families in Leicester featured in a Channel 4 News piece this week about cuts to school transport for young people aged 16-18 with special educational needs.
Leicester City Council has said they will only fund school transport for disabled young people post 16 in exceptional circumstances. Many families now face uncertainty if they will charged or have to make up a shortfall after receiving a Personal Transport Budget instead of their child’s previously provided school bus or taxi.
Leicester City Council is not the only local authority to cut the transport budget for this age group. There is currently no legal obligation for local authorities to provide transport to post 16 so it has become an easy cost to cut. And we know from our own research and from calls to our helpline that this picture is being replicated across England.
Una Summerson, Head of Policy at Contact, said: “We understand the very real difficulties of increasing costs at a time when local authority budgets are under so much pressure. But taking away transport for young disabled people means they are more likely to drop out of school or college, have fewer qualifications and life skills and there will be higher costs in the future. It is the definition of false economy. We believe greater access to welcoming and inclusive local schools and tackling expensive privatised bus and taxi companies would be a good place to start, but it will take time for this to take effect. That’s why we are calling on the government to close the loophole and ensure fairer access to school transport for disabled students.”
The impact of losing school transport
Contact’s 2024 research showed that where councils provide transport it really works and is beneficial to the whole family:
- 81% of families with council transport are satisfied/extremely satisfied with it.
- 58% say it helps promote their child’s independence.
- 40% of parent carers say it helps them to work.
But once a child turns 16, transport is less reliable. Of those who previously received transport at five-15 years and turned 16:
- Almost 60% faced changes to transport (e.g. asked to pay or receive a personal transport budget), including 15% whose transport stopped altogether.
- 20% are now charged for transport at 16.
- 40% had to reduce hours or give up work to transport their child themselves.
The government says there is a bursary to help teenagers with the cost of school transport. But our research found that the 16-19 bursary and discretionary funds are neither accessible nor sufficient to cover travel costs. Only 10% of families had applied, with 70% saying they thought they were not eligible or had not heard of it.
What are we doing?
We have launched a parent-led “close the loophole” campaign for fairer transport for disabled students. We’re asking for a system where decisions are based on need, not age.
