Written evidence submitted by The Community Transport Association (HTS0019)

1.    Introduction

The Community Transport Association (CTA) leads a thriving Community Transport movement across the UK. Our mission is to ensure everyone has access to local transport which meets their needs, no matter who they are or where they live.[1]

We represent over 1,000 local charities, community groups and social enterprises delivering community-led transport projects and services across England on a non-profit basis to address unmet transport needs, from community-owned buses and car clubs to dial-a-ride and non-emergency patient transport.[2] Our sector plugs gaps in the transport system and breaks down barriers to travel.

Community Transport Operators (CTOs) frequently provide Home to School transport. Community Transport includes transport for children and young people provided by dedicated not for profit transport providers, schools and colleges, and charities working with children and young people. Interim figures from a CTA survey currently in field show over 40 operators delivering Home to School contracts, with a considerable number also providing SEND transport services and these figures expected to grow as responses rise.

Accessibility is a core value of the Community Transport movement. CTOs specialise in providing accessible transport to tackle transport poverty and inequality. Three-quarters of minibuses and four-fifths of Multi-Person Vehicles (MPV) owned or leased by CTOs in England are wheelchair accessible and many services are operated on a door-to-door or door-through-door basis.[3]

CTA manages a national programme of quality-assured education and training for the Community Transport sector and beyond, ensuring that individuals and organisations can deliver safe, legal and comfortable journeys for everyone.[4]

The Minibus Driver Awareness Scheme (MiDAS), our flagship training course, has been the gold standard for enhancing the safety and care of passengers for 30 years. The scheme provides a nationally recognised standard for the assessment and training of drivers and passenger assistants to ensure that they have the skills and knowledge to provide safe, legal and comfortable journeys to passengers. There are several courses available under the MiDAS umbrella, including: MiDAS Standard and Accessible; the Passenger Assistant Training Scheme (PATS), which is often a prerequisite in Local Authority contracts for SEND transport; and MiDAS Car and MPV for smaller vehicles. The ongoing transformation of our offer is being achieved through co-production with communities, passengers, and disabled people’s organisations, ensuring passenger experience is at the heart of our training.

2.    Response to issues raised by the Committee

The committee requests information relating to the following three issues:

• Available support for young people.
• Efforts to contain costs.
• How to manage rising demand.

2.1 How to manage rising demand

Literature relating to increasing demand for Home to School services highlights the rising numbers of pupils eligible for transport through their Education, Health and Care (EHC) plans. In particular, demand for SEND transport has risen in the past decade, whilst mainstream school transport has been cut. Mainstream bus routes have also seen reduced mileage and service numbers.

The National Audit Office has noted that the local transport provider market has also shrunk since Covid-19, due to rising operating costs and driver shortages.

Community Transport has not been immune to these pressures. Whilst CTOs are well-placed to deliver safe, accessible, community-oriented Home to School transport, they are currently held back by regulatory frameworks which are outdated and inflexible.

CTOs typically operate under Section 19 or Section 22 permits, which are intended for non-commercial, community-focused transport. These permits impose strict limitations. Permit holders cannot operate vehicles for commercial purposes or where there are activities or services which are incidental to profit. Importantly, a CTO cannot hold both a Section 19/22 permit and a private hire vehicle (PHV), taxi licence, or operator’s licence, unless it creates a separate trading arm – something that requires additional administrative and financial overheads.

Further complications arise when small vehicles (8 seats or less) are used under Section 19 permits. In these cases, operators must ensure that passengers are paying ‘separate fares’ – a stipulation that becomes problematic when bidding for Local Authority contracts where fare structures may be bundled, such as for Home to School contracts.

CTA’s experience is that some Local Authorities allow CTOs to bid for contracts and some do not, depending on their interpretation of commercial activity. This presents an ongoing problem for the sector, as the discretionary grants provided by Local Authorities that have historically funded services are being replaced by contracts.

It is CTA’s view that these contracts should not be viewed as commercial. Inconsistency between Local Authorities creates unequal access to Home to School contracts and reduces opportunities for cost-effective provision. We would welcome the committee’s recommendation that Home to School contracts are non-commercial and should be open to VCSE organisations.

To unlock potential of CTOs, the Department for Transport (DfT) must clarify operator licensing guidance for Community Transport to improve the governance and regulation of our sector.  This should include:

•                      As mentioned above, regulatory clarity that CTOs can participate in contracted services without breaching permit conditions; and

•                      Clearer guidance on the definition and application of ‘separate fares’ for smaller vehicles under Section 19.

Without these changes, we risk missing a valuable opportunity to improve the safety, quality, and inclusivity of Home to School transport through the greater involvement of socially driven CTOs.

2.2 Available support for young people

CTOs combine strong social purpose with extensive experience in inclusive transport, making them well suited to deliver Home to School and SEND services.

CTOs are set up to provide accessible services. Our Mapping England survey found that 4 out 5 operators in England are providing services for passengers with limited mobility and whilst Community Transport is not always associated with transport for younger people, over half were providing services for children. Community Transport uses a variety of vehicles, but the vast majority are minibuses suitable for group transport, three quarters of which were wheelchair accessible.[5]

Accessible vehicles are vital, but trained and confident staff make these services safe and inclusive in practice. CTA administer the Minibus Driver Awareness Scheme (MiDAS) and the Passenger Assistant Training Scheme (PATS), which professionalises support staff and enhances safety standards. MiDAS and PATS, were recently transformed through co-production with communities, passengers and disabled people’s organisations and provide consistency of training, guidance on the presence and qualifications of passenger assistants, and overall safeguarding standards. Over 17,000 staff and volunteers have completed the training in the calendar year 2025 alone.

Both LGA and the National Audit Office have highlighted the use of independent travel training, to encourage greater use of the public transport network where possible. Community Transport can complement independent travel training, introducing independent travel for those able to access to the wider public transport network, or greater independence for those who are not able to access public transport.

Research commissioned by the Motability Foundation highlights the benefits and potential for Community Transport to provide expanded services for disabled people.[6] CTA is committed to encouraging this in practice and is currently undertaking research commissioned by the foundation to understand the specific transport barriers for disabled children and young people.[7] Through our scoping work on this project we know many CTOs are currently providing Home to School contracts and SEND transport in England. Not only do they provide compassionate and accessible journeys for disabled children and young people, when these operators are not engaged with home to school services, they are often providing daytime services for older passengers, ensuring an efficient use of their fleet. A failure to harness this way of working misses an innovative opportunity which has the capacity to increase integration between health and social care services.

2.3 Efforts to contain costs

The National Audit Office estimates that it is five times more expensive to transport SEND children than it is to transport mainstream home to school pupils [8]. This is driven largely by the growth in demand for SEND transport.

The type of vehicle used also has a significant impact on the cost of transport. The County Councils Network estimates half of SEND pupils were transported by car and half were transported by minibus in 2023.[9] In response, the Local Government Association have noted that some Local Authorities have reviewed ‘all solo occupancy routes to look for opportunities to place children and young people on multi occupancy vehicles or to work with parents to agree a personal transport budget instead.’[10] It is imperative that children have transport that meets their needs, which in some cases demands sole-occupancy travel. However, Community Transport provides an accessible journey in a group transport environment, for those children who may be able to use group transport with the support of a trained passenger assistant.

Costs for transport in rural areas can be considerably larger and so it is worth noting that CTOs often already cover, or are based in rural areas, thus providing an existing cost-effective solution. These operators have frequently emerged in the rural areas that are underserved by public transport: for example, CTA’s Mapping England survey found that 45% of operators focused their services in rural or mainly rural areas, compared to 32% serving urban areas. Having local operators based in rural areas minimises travel times and costs, as well as providing specialised knowledge of local environments and population.

3.  Summary

•                      Community Transport Operators (CTOs) provide accessible not for profit transport across England.

•                      An increasing number of CTOs deliver Home to School contracts, and the sector has the potential to deliver more.

•                      CTA is currently working with operators, passengers and stakeholders across the UK to co-produce guidance on providing transport for disabled children and young people, learning from the exemplars currently delivering contracted and non-contracted services.

•                      Regulatory clarity relating to ‘commercial activity’ and ‘separate fares’ is essential to enable Community Transport to reach its full potential to deliver safe, cost-effective and inclusive Home to School services.

Further Information

For more information, please contact the Community Transport Association using the details supplied.

November 2025

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