Wiltshire SEND teenagers taught how to use public transport

Local authorities are not legally obligated to provide free or subsidised transport to education settings for children after they are 16, and as councils face budget pressures, many are reducing what they offer.

Swindon Council has consulted on reducing its provision.

Wiltshire Council’s Community Connecting services run a range of travel training options, including helping young people to move safely as pedestrians in rural areas.

“There’s noise, busy-ness, lots of people, changing weather,” says the scheme’s manager Marnie Kemp.

She said the changes to post-16 SEND transport provision were worrying for some parents, but that it could give some young people the chance to increase their independence.

“The council have seen the value of what we’re doing,” she said. “If that means there’s less of a need for other services, that’s a wonderful byproduct”.