Committee agrees to further development of assisted travel options
Members of Wirral Council’s Children, Young People and Education Committee have agreed to shelve a proposal to ask the families of over 16s to pay a contribution towards their child’s assisted travel needs.
At a meeting on 21 January at Wallasey Town Hall, the committee received a comprehensive update on Home to School Travel and debated a series of recommendations before passing a resolution.
Following their discussions, the Committee did not approve the introduction of a £680 annual contribution for post‑16 assisted travel. This reflected feedback from a recent consultation, where concern was raised about the potential financial impact on families and barriers to education. Existing post‑16 assisted travel arrangements will continue, alongside updated Personal Transport Budget rates.
The Committee also voted to support further work to develop and expand Independent Travel Training, which helps some young people build confidence and skills to travel independently where appropriate.
Travel Training will always be based on individual assessment, carried out safely, and agreed with young people and their parents or carers. Children and young people who are not able to travel independently will continue to receive appropriate transport support.
The report was presented after a public consultation held between October 2025 and January 2026 and which generated 171 responses, the majority of which were parents and carers, many of whom have children or young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).
Councillors discussed the feedback in detail, recognising that the proposals had raised strong views and understandable concern among families.
Home to school travel supported 2,130 children and young people across Wirral in October 2025, and it plays an important role in helping children and young people attend education safely and consistently.
In some cases, the Council has a statutory responsibility to provide this support, particularly where children are of compulsory school age or have additional needs that make independent travel unsuitable. The Council’s role is to make sure eligible children can access education, while also ensuring that travel arrangements are safe, appropriate and make best use of public funding.
The current projected spend for 2025/2026 is £12.3 million and is anticipated to rise to £16 million in 2026/2027 without policy change. The report explored how the service can remain sustainable in the long term, while continuing to prioritise safety, suitability and individual need.
As well as agreeing the recommendations on postponing the introduction of the £680 contribution for post‑16 assisted travel and further developing Independent Travel Training, councillors also agreed to ask officers to begin exploring alternative ways of delivering assisted travel from September 2026 onwards, including different procurement and commissioning options. This work is at an early, exploratory stage and is intended to help manage rising demand and costs over the longer term.
If more families are able to make use of Personal Transport Budgets or independent travel training where appropriate, the Council estimates this could deliver around £200,000 in annual savings, with further savings likely to come from modernising how transport is commissioned rather than from changes affecting individual entitlements.
We know how important safe, reliable home to school travel is for children, young people and their families, particularly those with SEND. Our responsibility is to make sure support is safe, fair and built around individual needs, while also planning sustainably for the future. Families shared their views through the consultation, and their valuable feedback shaped the Committee’s careful consideration and the decision that was made. Any future changes will be developed thoughtfully, with a clear focus on individual needs, safety and supporting young people to access education.
The Council has reassured families that no immediate changes will be made to existing home to school transport arrangements as a result of this meeting. Decisions about eligibility and provision will continue to be made on an individual basis, and families will be contacted directly if any future changes affect them.
More information about home to school travel is available on wirral.gov.uk, and families with questions about their own arrangements can contact the Assisted Travel team at travelassist@wirral.gov.uk.
