Why we are proposing these changes
There are three main reasons for suggesting changes.
There are three main reasons for suggesting changes.
- Firstly, we have been looking at what other local areas do and also listening to our families about how things could be better. We all want our young people to live an enjoyable, successful and full life when the time is right for them. We want our young adults in the city to be as independent as they can be; we want them to be able to experience the many exciting things that living and working in a city like Newcastle, in the wonderful north-east, has to offer. A big part of this is to be able to get around independently, and use different types of transport easily and confidently.
- Secondly, there are lots of children and young people who are not yet ready to travel independently. To help with this we can arrange independent travel training for young people, we can organise for taxis or buses to take children and young people to school, and we can provide money to families who want to take their children to school themselves. We have been looking at what other local areas do, and we think we can make some improvements to what we do. This will help more young people to be independent travellers and also give more families the flexibility to help them to get their own children to school each day.
- Thirdly, we currently help some of our young people with SEND aged 16-17 to get to and from school or college. This means that many of these young people do not have to pay anything to go to school or college when they are 16-17 years of age. The council does not have to do this but we have been doing it for many, many years. This costs the council a lot of money (over a million pounds each year). We all know that times are tough and money is tight. This is true for the council as well. The council has to make decisions all the time on what things it spends the money it has on. We are very sad to have to think about changing what we do to support 16-17 year-olds with SEND, but we feel that we simply have no choice.
How you can take part
We want to hear what you think about our proposal for personal travel budgets. There is a document which describes some of the options we are thinking about, which you can find at the end of this page or click here: PTB consultation. More information can also be found on our Local Offer Website here: Consultation: Post 16 SEND Transport and Personal Travel Budgets. This document will also tell you about the ways that you can tell us what you think:
- You can write to us.
- You can complete a quick and simple form online here: SEND Consultation 2024 Form
- You can come to one of the drop-in sessions and tell us in person.
We will use any personal information we collect from you, such as your name, only to help us with this consultation. We will store it securely and not use it for any other purpose, and we will not share this information with anyone else.
You can take part in the consultation on Post-16 SEND Transport here: Post-16 SEND Transport
You can take part in the consultation on Post-16 SEND Transport here: Post-16 SEND Transport
Drop-in sessions
We are running drop-in sessions on the following dates:
We are running drop-in sessions on the following dates:
- 6 August, 10am-11am
- 23 August, 11am-12pm
- 3 September, 5pm-6pm
- 11 September, 10am-11am
- 17 September, 4pm-5pm
The venues for these drop-in sessions will be posted on the Local Offer website in the next few weeks.
What happens next
We want to hear from you before the deadline which is Friday 20 September 2024. If you can’t find the two consultation documents, or you need this information in another format, such as large print, please email us at SENDTPConsultation@newcastle.gov.uk or call: 0191 278 7878. We look forward to reading and listening to your views and will use them to inform our decisions about SEND transport in Newcastle. You can see what we found out and what happens next here on Let's talk Newcastle Online or on our website, and we will post information about this later in 2024.
What happens next
We want to hear from you before the deadline which is Friday 20 September 2024. If you can’t find the two consultation documents, or you need this information in another format, such as large print, please email us at SENDTPConsultation@newcastle.gov.uk or call: 0191 278 7878. We look forward to reading and listening to your views and will use them to inform our decisions about SEND transport in Newcastle. You can see what we found out and what happens next here on Let's talk Newcastle Online or on our website, and we will post information about this later in 2024.
