Public Accounts Committee Call for Evidence on Home to School Transport

Evidence on Independent Travel Training for Young People with SEND

Dr Sarah Brooks-Wilson, s.brooks-wilson@bham.ac.uk

University of Birmingham, August 2025

1. Introduction

This call for evidence relates to the rising cost of transport associated with children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) travelling to educational settings. This evidence on independent travel training addresses three key topics for scrutiny, which are:

1. How to manage rising demand
2. Available support for young people
3. Efforts to contain costs.

This evidence outlines the role of Independent Travel Training teams and considers mandatory requirements for young people with SEND, before outlining the independent travel training process. Existing research and my current project on independent travel training are summarised, before key findings and recommendations are presented. Dr Sarah Brooks-Wilson and Tim Griffiths (Senior Independence Lead, Gloucestershire County Council) are available to give oral evidence to support Public Accounts Committee activities.

2. Independent Travel Training Teams: Background context

Independent Travel Training Teams (referred to as ITT Teams from hereon) operate in each of the four regions of the United Kingdom (e.g. see[i][ii][iii]). Training is delivered by local authorities (e.g. see[iv][v]) and third-party providers (e.g. see[vi]) and some organisations train ITT Teams (e.g. see [vii]). ITT Teams have delivered services for different periods of time, and some services have been withdrawn (e.g. see [viii]). The main National Network spans Oxfordshire, Surrey, Berkshire, Swindon and Gloucestershire (currently chaired by Tim Griffiths from Gloucestershire County Council), and had 60 members before the Covid-19 pandemic, but many programmes have since collapsed. Regional networks also operate, such as the West Midlands Independent Travel Training Network.

ITT delivery is underpinned by different legislation and guidance - the Education Act 1996 describes obligations to provide suitable school travel (including ITT) for eligible children[ix][x]. Eligibility relates to age, nearest suitable school distance, route safety and additional needs.[xi] Education, Health and Care Plans (referred to as EHC Plans from hereon) were introduced in the Children and Families Act 2014[xii] to improve outcomes for children with SEND[xiii]. EHC Plans must include preparation for adulthood (referred to as PFA from hereon) and independent living from school year 9 in relation to employment, housing and societal participation.[xiv] The special educational needs and disability code of practice: 0 to 25 years[xv] details obligations with respect to PFA. A subsection on transport (In Section 4: The Local Offer from 4.48 onwards) restates the obligation for eligible children to have free travel to education, as outlined in the Education Act 1996. Guidance describes local authority obligations to provide transport for those with EHC plans until the age of 25, and to publish an annual policy statement on travel arrangements for young people with learning difficulties and/or disabilities (LDD) access education up to the age of 25. In particular, the ‘local offer’ statement must include details on:

• Specialised transport
• Support with transport costs
• Support offered to children and young people that enables transport use
• Independent travel training [xvi]

The Care Quality Commission’s recent review on PFA considers how young people with SEND are supported to participate in society and prepare for adulthood.[xvii] Independent travel is not foregrounded in the report, but excerpts below indicate how travel remains a fundamental enabler for young people with SEN, and how implementation problems can impede independence:

We also heard from practitioners about barriers children and young people face in trying to access and sustain employment. These include young people not being able to use travel cards (provided by the local authority) at peak times[xviii]

Some children and young people face significant barriers to taking part in community activities. Those in more rural areas and wheelchair users often miss out due to travel restrictions.[xix]

3. Service process: eligibility, referrals and progress

Although ITT Teams help young people with SEND learn travel independence to a main educational setting, independent travel training is offered in different ways. The process can be generally summarised as follows: 

1. Essential, broader foundational work takes place (e.g. in schools) on social interaction, relationship, and confidence building
2. ITT eligibility criteria varies according to age, care experience, SEND status, local authority transport eligibility, education site location and pragmatic economic decision making[xx] [xxi] [xxii] [xxiii]
3. Referrals take place - some areas have open referral processes using webforms and other areas take third party referrals through schools, colleges or day centres. Eligible young people can be rejected for training due to pragmatic (cost-saving) reasons at this stage
4. Risk and needs assessments are undertaken to understand the things like education travel routes and young people’s independence capabilities
5. ITT trainers often start by supporting safe access to the local transport point (e.g. bus stop)
6. Young people are fully accompanied for the duration of the journey to education. This involves developing communication, decision making and observation skills, learning to be present within unfamiliar groups of people, and using coping strategies to manage underlying issues that could be exacerbated when travelling.
7. Support is tapered through flexible use of chaperoning and shadowing at progressively greater distances
8. Evidence of consistent independent journey completion and confidence results in a young person being signed off and able to catch the bus which sometimes replaces more intensive modes (like taxis)
9. After programme completion, young people can contact their travel trainer with queries or be referred back if travel needs change (for example, when progressing from school to college)

4. Existing research

There is a lack of research on ITT Teams and existing evidence focuses on programme evaluations or new opportunities arising after training completion. Coinciding with the creation of the Association of Travel Instructors in 1999, some research took place in the United States in the early noughties (for example see[xxiv]). At present a sector-wide cost-benefit analysis has not been undertaken to consider things like local authority transport costs, training delivery costs and the reduced demand for intensive local authority transport provision. In terms of long-term economic savings and quality of life, travel training is likely to provide significant benefits as travel is a key enabler and programme graduates are more likely to be able to reach essential local services when needed (like education, employment, food shopping, healthcare providers and social contact opportunities), which is likely to contribute positively to long-term wellbeing in an economic, social and health sense.

5. My current research project

My research specialism considers how young people with complex needs access services to fully participate in society. Much of my research focuses on community-based youth justice services because the complexity of need is very high, and successful service attendance, engagement and completion is often a vital precursor to other activities that are vital for social inclusion, such as employment and education. These populations are not mutually exclusive and my research shows that five inter-related forms of disadvantage impede service accessibility: personal, family, service provision, transport system and catchment area[xxv]. This work makes an important connection with this call for evidence as learning difficulties and/or disabilities (LDDs) are over-represented and under-diagnosed within the youth justice population, and not researching services can be highly detrimental in different ways[xxvi]  

Research and policy on service access by young people with complex needs doesn’t always adequately include the voices of those with lived experience, and evidence shows that effective policy solutions rely on a variety of evidence and perspectives, including from those with lived experiences[xxvii][xxviii] I am currently researching Independent Travel Training Teams and so far, data collection has involved engaging with 6 Independent Travel Trainers and 38 young people attending further educational settings designed for young people with SEND. Visual participatory methods are appended - they were used to understand young people’s knowledge, views and experiences of bus travel to educational settings.  

6. Key research findings

• ITT Teams have finite resources - more eligible young people could benefit from independent travel training and have the capacity to participate. 
• Teams deliver a mandatory function and have some flexibility in terms of tailoring support to local delivery contexts. This means services are locally and individually relevant but that young people in different areas receive different services.
• There is no sector-wide evidence on direct (i.e. transport fares) and indirect (i.e. workforce participation), short and long-term economic costs and savings with respect travel independence for young people with SEND.

Some qualitative research evidence from the project:

ITT Teams provide a bespoke service for young people to support travel independence:

It doesn't matter how we get there, it’s like little steps but we get there in whichever way is best to support that young person with their additional needs (Practitioner)

As young people become older, parents can feel concern regarding the ability to reach important places such as college.

Parents might be a little bit concerned. They’ll contact us and explain that: “they're just about to go onto a supported internship programme which is a bit further than the journeys they’ve been doing.  Would you mind doing a few sessions with them?”  Just for them to get a taste of the journey and their confidence. (Practitioner).

Sometimes, parenting young people with SEND can present resourcing challenges, which makes resourcing change a sensitive topic:

There is a real hesitancy. If I’m going to [parents] and saying would “you be interested in independent travel training” and speak about all the benefits but at the end they won’t have taxi transport anymore, it almost feels like something is getting taken away. (Practitioner).

This practitioner went on to describe how they set up parent workshops in schools to provide an opportunity to communicate the benefits of independence, to overcome such barriers to engagement. Such approaches are important because evidence suggests that young people can become more adventurous after ITT training, which can be a catalyst for wider independence and societal participation:

They perhaps thought they couldn’t do something, then they're starting to realise a door’s opening, “we can do it”, and there's possibilities. We’re working with somebody that’s 16, 17, 18, 19-years-old and that’s the first time they’ve had that. It’s all been bottled up for a long time.  So, they quite often run with it after that (Practitioner).

Bus drivers and passengers [xxix]are not always aware when young people have hidden disabilities[xxx], making patience important when boarding the bus:

Smiling, tone of voice, patience - all of those things should be there when somebody is first getting on the bus, because [young people] are extra aware of how they're perceived (Practitioner).

Experiences with transport staff (mainly bus drivers) were sometimes very positive, empowering and friendly, which supported inclusive travel. However, the need to balance multiple responsibilities (timetable adherence, road safety, passenger safety and ticket/fare management) meant that things were sometimes a bit rushed:

Bus drivers need to get the ramp out for the wheelchair, especially if the kerb’s quite high. If it’s in rush hour they don’t really want to do that and you can tell, because they’ve got to get out of their seat and get out of the bus, and it’s busy (Practitioner).

When building confidence to travel independently, adverse travel experiences could make some young people a little more hesitant. As such, ITT Teams focus on contingency planning as a core aspect of travel training, to prepare for unexpected things:

I want to ensure that he’s safe. If he missed his stop or couldn’t find his pass he would know what to do. One issue is being able to tell the time, but we can get around this as long as young people know the bus number and where to wait (Practitioner).

Some young people with SEND experienced travel barriers to school when bus passes did not work, and ITT teams have developed innovative travel communication to empower young people in different ways (i.e. showing pre-written signage that describes required help), but evidence suggests that universal (i.e. national) communication tools or free travel could also help overcome travel barriers:

Say if there was a national card that a learner could have, discrete and in their wallet with their bus pass. If they're showing their bus pass and they’ve got a card that says they’ve got additional needs of some description - to be aware of that and to allow them a little more leeway. Like you don’t have to pay if your cards not working (Practitioner).

7. Nine recommendations that support three Public Accounts Committee areas of scrutiny

In lieu of economic evidence while recognising the moral justification for promoting independent lifestyles, it is recommended that:

1. ITT Teams should be protected from closure - they significantly enhance young people’s quality of life and are likely to benefit public finances
2. When possible, training should start early to help develop independence and limit perceived barriers (the current recommendation is year 9 but training often starts years later than this)
3. Assimilation of national statistics and operational data on independent travel training in the context of local SEND populations would help understand training needs and coverage while helping to manage resources across the country 
4. A cost-benefit analysis should be undertaken to understand local direct and indirect economic implications in the short and long-term, and support cost effective provision delivery
5. Public transport should be free of charge for all young people with SEND - it would remove travel barriers and support full societal participation
6. Young people with SEND should be meaningfully included in consultations to ensure user voices are represented. This is in line with international rights frameworks, government consultation guidelines, and evidence on robust policy development
7. ‘Quick inclusivity wins’ suggested by young people should be implemented by transport providers. This is likely to encourage ongoing engagement with independent travel for young people with SEND. Regular audio announcements (particularly for route changes), personalised service delivery (driver name badges) and non-stigmatising SEND identification tools (similar to the sunflower lanyard) are examples of what could help
8. Transport provider staff should receive awareness training to encourage supportive, constructive contact with young people that have hidden disabilities
9. ITT Teams should receive more funding to:
1. lower local authority transport expenditure for young people with SEND
2. broaden independence opportunities for more eligible young people with SEND
3. enable referral acceptance and wider ITT Team eligibility criteria to benefit more young people who are entitled to support
10. National resourcing and communication is needed (i.e. a best-practice repository or national network funding) to help ITT Teams share good practice (i.e. forms, identification tools, communication aids and engagement techniques) and enhance training quality, consistency, engagement and effectiveness. 

8. References