Council efficiency drive hoped to reduce cost of SEND taxis, despite increasing demand
2,600 children and young people across Sheffield are currently supported by the council’s home-to-school transport service
Sheffield Council hopes to save money on its new special needs transport contract, which it expects will cost £13 million every year.
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The council arranges transport for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), looked after children, and vulnerable adults.
The taxis and minibuses that make up the service help children, young people and adults to access education, care and other services.
Councils are legally required to provide free transport to school for 5 to 16 year olds with SEND, and for adults to access necessary social care activities, if they are assessed as having an eligible care need.
2,600 children and young people across Sheffield are currently supported by the council’s home-to-school transport service.
The council has reduced the ‘cost per seat’ from £1,100 in 2024/25 to £1,026 in 2025/26, thanks to ‘efficiency measures’.
These include an increase in ‘independent travel training’ - trainers who work with children and families to help young people feel confident to make the journeys to school by themselves.
Another change is the increase of ‘personal travel budgets’ which give parents funding to arrange their own flexible travel to school or college for their children.
Now a change in the national Procurement Act 2023 means the existing contract must end by February 2029, which the council said provides an opportunity to improve cost efficiency further.
A report to the strategy and resources policy committee read: “Overall costs are expected to remain stable or reduce over the contract period as planned efficiency measures are implemented and embedded.”
The new contract will run for a period of eight years and will be mostly made up of taxis.
The current annual value of the contract is approximately £13 million and the demand for SEND home-to-school transport has increased over recent years.
Around half of this provision is delivered by the council’s own transport service, with the remaining provision delivered by private transport providers
The council hopes the new contract with private providers will deliver wider benefits for Sheffield residents and communities including local apprenticeships, work experience, fair employment practices and environmental sustainability like emissions that meet Sheffield’s clean air zone requirements and support the Council’s 2030 carbon neutral objective.