A driver shortage is forcing home to school transport services for Newcastle children with special needs to be cancelled at short notice, families have been warned.
City council chiefs have confirmed that they are having to axe some taxis taking youngsters with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) to and from school. Bosses say that, while transport was arranged for all children who need it across the city prior to the start of the new school year, the local authority’s providers have been “unable to deliver due to a lack of drivers”.
In an email seen by the Local Democracy Reporting Service, children’s services director Cath McEvoy-Carr reveals the difficulties finding drivers and says the council must cancel on families rather than offer a “sub-standard service” with staff who are not specifically trained and qualified for SEND work. The council said that only around 3% of its planned journeys are having to be withdrawn, though the number changes each day, out of the 1,016 eligible children in the city.
