For individuals with an EHCP, local authorities like Wokingham may provide a Personal Transport Budget (PTB) as an alternative to traditional council-provided transport arrangements. This budget can be used to cover costs associated with travel to commissioned educational settings, including potentially funding private/student accommodation if it serves as a more effective and reasonable option for the learner due to their SEND, physical or mental health challenges, the distance and complexity and transport modes of a journey from home to school making daily travel exhausting or impractical, the need for provision being only available at certain institutions located far from home.

AI reports that many councils, like Wokingham, have provisions for PTBs under their SEN transport policy. While specific examples of funding private/student accommodation are not in the public domain, parents have reported using PTBs to cover costs associated with living closer to educational institutions when daily commuting proves impractical due to the learner’s SEND needs: to facilitate attendance and enable a learner's full participation in learning where a post 19 learner/relevant young adult learner is otherwise unable to access the educational/training provision commissioned in their EHCP and/or be left NEET, also minimising learner stress and preserving a learner's physical/mental health and wellbeing.

This flexible approach to meeting individual needs also cuts transport costs which - if funding daily taxis and/or PA support for a long and complex commute might well cost well in excess of any accommodation funded nearby the educational provision.

1. Can you please confirm whether or not there is a framework within your SEND Personal Transport Budgets / Home to School Transport policies which allow for PTBs to be used to meet individual needs flexibly - and under what specific circumstances - to fund private/student accommodation nearby to an educational setting - as an 'alternative non-transport based solution' to facilitate attendance/full participation in learning.
Wokingham Borough Council (WBC) Personal Transport Budgets (PTBs) can be used in any way a parent/carer wishes, that enables them to facilitate their child's attendance at their school or college. If a parent/carer wants to use the PTB to fund private/student accommodation nearby to an educational setting, then there are no restrictions within our policy which would prevent them from doing so.

2.
a) Please confirm - how many Personal Transport Budgets have been awarded in each of the past 5 years and how many have been used in this way to allow for funding of accommodation.
PTBs were only introduced in Wokingham as a travel assistance option from September 2024. As of January 2025, there were 156 students with a travel assistance PTB
b) Please provide anonymised examples
WBC only requires to see evidence of how a PTB is being used in certain exceptional cases. We are not aware of a PTB being used for accommodation in any of these cases, so we are unable to provide examples of whether a PTB is being used to fund private/student accommodation nearby, to an educational setting - as an 'alternative non-transport-based solution' to facilitate attendance/full participation in learning

3.
a) Please state how such alternative 'non-transport' based solutions are made explicit within your post 16/post 19 SEND Travel Policy in line with DfE Home to School Transport Statutory Guidance requiring LA's to consider 'Alternatives' to transport.
WBC Post-16 Travel Assistance Policy states that "The standard offer of Travel Assistance for students aged 16-19 is a Personal Transport Budget (PTB)". The offer and type of Post 16 transport remains at the discretion of the Council, but we will take into consideration individual circumstances and the needs of a child (including consideration of an application form, an EHCP and any current transport risk assessment that the Council has undertaken). A Personal Transport Budget (PTB) is a direct payment made at the beginning of each term to help parents/carers get their child to school or college. Parents/Carers can use the PTB in any way they wish, offering total flexibility and enabling parents/carers to consider alternative transport options.
b) How do families make a request as part of your SEND Home To School Transport / EHCP Annual Review processes.
If a child has an education, health and care plan (EHCP), their annual review will look at their travel assistance support to make sure it meets their needs and discussions around travel assistance eligibility will take place where appropriate. The annual review will also consider how a child can get the skills and independence they need to catch public transport on their own. This includes providing independent travel training where appropriate. If parents/carers want to pursue a travel assistance application, then there is an online form they need to complete which it sent to our dedicated SEND Transport team.
c) Please confirm how a relevant young adult SEND learner's need for accommodation nearby an educational setting would be otherwise addressed (Section 508I f an g, Section 63, Section 514a) IF daily transport is NOT viable, so as not to leave them NEET.
The information requested is not recorded by the Council.

4.
a) Please can you confirm how the cost to the public purse would be considered as part of your decision-making process where the cost of provision of accommodation nearby costs considerably less than the cost of providing daily transport by TAXI - where travel by public transport is not viable and would cause harm.
The information requested is not recorded by the Council.
b) Please provide details of any budgetary saving calculations projected or reported associated with the award of Personal Transport Budgets with flexibility of use - including for accommodation nearby a learner's educational provision versus the cost of funding a long and complex daily commute.
This is not an exercise that has been carried out by WBC and as such we do not have these calculations.