Stoke-on-Trent City Council overspent its special education transport budget by nearly £3 million last year.

The council paid £9.37 million on school travel assistance for pupils with special educational needs or disabilities (SEND) in 2024/25, compared to a budget of £6.42 million – a 46 per cent overspend.

Councillors are now set to carry out a review looking into how the money is spent, after concerns were raised that taxpayers are being 'held to ransom' by taxi firms.

Members of the children and family services scrutiny committee were told that councils have a legal duty to provide travel assistance to families when a child would otherwise be unable to get to school.

SEND pupils can qualify for assistance due to the distance they need to travel, or because of their special needs. A total of 1,201 pupils in Stoke-on-Trent are currently eligible for travel assistance on the basis of SEND.

Paul Gerrard, head of school services, told the committee that SEND transport had been a growing problem for many local authorities, due to the increase in the number of children with education, health and care plans.

Mr Gerrard said: "Because of the pace of the increase in demand, it's become an increasingly important issue and has had a huge impact on spend.

"The obligations are quite simple – the law says that if a child is unable to get to school, the local authority will put in steps to get that child to school. That might be because of distance, or SEN issues.

"There is no automatic eligibility. There is a perception in some areas that if a child has an EHCP they'll automatically get their own taxi – that doesn't happen."

Mr Gerrard said 1,200 children qualifying for travel assistance was not an unusual number for a city the size of Stoke-on-Trent, and that the fact that 90 per cent of appeals failed demonstrated that the council is generally getting the policy right.

But he explained that steps are being taken to reduce costs, including the introduction of an online application form, and a more efficient decision-making process, which will mean less reliance on costly emergency provision.

The expansion of special education in Stoke-on-Trent will also result in fewer children going to private school outside the city. Construction work recently got underway on the £11.5 million satellite to the existing Watermill School in Packmoor.

Mr Gerrard added: "We're trying to keep a lid on this, as it's a massive amount of spend.

"Most authorities are under incredible pressure. But the parameters are fairly fixed on where we can go with this. Essentially, we're following statutory restrictions.

"If a child needs help to get to school, there's relatively little flexibility in what we can do."

Cllr Sarah Hill, cabinet member for children's services, added: "It's incumbent on us to be as absolutely efficient as we can, and that parents have reasonable expectations of what we can provide.

"Nationally, this is a huge problem. I think the government needs to think about how to deal with this."

Scrutiny committee member Dave Evans raised concerns that taxi firms in the area are charging the council too much for SEN transport.

He said: "We only have a limited number of providers in the city, frankly they've got us by the short and curlies, and that bumps up the cost.

"So it's a challenge, and one that requires scrutiny. I have no doubt that the taxis we are procuring are doing the job, they're transporting children in a safe manner. It's the process of the procurement and market-making that's the issue."

Committee chair Daniela Santoro said: "I feel that we are being held to ransom by some firms."

The committee agreed to carry out a further review looking into the council's transport policy and delivery.

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