Wiltshire Council to 'directly employ' taxi drivers for SEND pupils
The authority's been facing a shortage of transport for months
Wiltshire Council is set to buy up more taxis to take children with special educational needs to schools.
The authority's reportedly been suffering a shortage of vehicles to transport SEND pupils since November last year.
Caroline Thomas, Cabinet Member for Transport, said:
“Unfortunately there are currently insufficient taxi drivers to meet all of our SEND home-to-school transport commitments.
“To address this, we are providing additional vehicles and employing drivers directly to operate them.
“This will enable us to provide our statutory duty to provide free home-to-school transport for those who are entitled.”
Head of Passenger Transport Jason Salter was recorded in the minutes of a meeting of Wiltshire Council in December as saying:
“That there were currently 5-6 students without transport to education settings due to a lack of drivers/licenced vehicles.
“There were also a number of parents receiving a rate of pay to transport their own children to school that are entitled to free transport.”
Wiltshire Council's been looking at alternative options, like buying larger vehicles to carry more passengers and reduce the need for smaller taxis.
On December 5 the now-former cabinet member for transport Cllr Dr Mark McClelland said in a statement:
“We have had to put temporary arrangements in place such as doubling up on runs, reduced pupil timetables or paying parents to take them.
“In Wiltshire, there was a shortage of taxi drivers to fulfil our SEND school contracts before the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The pandemic hit the taxi industry very hard, and all local authorities have seen reducing driver numbers due to drivers switching to doing other driving and delivery jobs.”
A recruitment campaign has been held alongside local taxi firms to try and boost numbers.