MORE than £20m has been spent on providing home-to-school transport by Barnsley Council in the last three years, the Chronicle can reveal.

Figures have grown year-on-year, with 2024/25’s £9,327,639 eclipsing the previous high of £8,747,818 - logged in 2023/24 - and £7,342,630 in 2022/23.

According to the Freedom of Information response, the cash has been spent on taxis, private hire vehicles and mini buses.

Transport relating to adult social care - in particular to day centres - also cost more than £200,000 in each of the three financial years.

A total of 30 companies were paid for their services, including £573,362 to Platinum Travel, £553,600 to Goodyear Coaches, £387,827 to AA Taxis and even £17,849 to Cornwall Council in 2024/25.

As of last summer, 936 youngsters were in receipt of SEND-related transport, funded by the local authority - and two children were being transported to Derby every day.

Executive director of growth and sustainability, Matt O’Neill, said: “Home-to-school travel is a statutory service.

“We have a legal duty to provide travel assistance so children can get to school when travel would otherwise be a barrier, and for children with special educational needs and disabilities this helps them attend safely and in a way that meets their needs.

“Over the last three years, costs have increased mainly because demand for travel assistance has grown.

“This reflects the rise in pupil numbers nationally and in Barnsley, meaning we’ve needed additional routes to meet our statutory duties. “While we’ve expanded our internal fleet to help meet some of this demand, we cannot operate every route ourselves, so we also use contracted provision where required.

“Some of the transport costs also support adults with eligible care act needs get to day services, where this support has been agreed as part of their care and support plan.

“While some of this transport is provided by the council, we also use a contracted provision. Where we rely on contracted transport providers, due to operating costs prices have risen, and this has contributed to the overall increase in costs.”

The council previously warned it anticipates a projected rise in children aged 16 and older requiring support, with places expected to balloon from 667 to 1,748 by 2028 an increase of 162 per cent.

Bill Revans, SEND spokesperson for the County Councils Network, said the rise in transport costs were ‘alarming’.

“It is vital that the government does not ignore the alarming rise in SEND school transport costs, which has become one of the biggest pressures on council budgets over the last few years.

“The numbers are becoming overwhelming for many councils’ budgets.

“Last year the County Councils Network estimates that councils transported a record number of SEND pupils, many in single-occupancy vehicles.

“If nothing changes, they will be transporting more than 100,000 additional pupils within six years a city’s worth of young people.

“There are many unintended consequences to this, not least a tighter squeeze on who is eligible for mainstream school transport.

“The government announced that 90 per cent of the estimated £6.6bn in SEND deficits that councils have accrued over the last decade to deliver the non-transport, day-to-day services will be paid for by the Treasury.

“The government will also absorbing all SEND spending into central government from 2028 onwards.

“Whilst councils have welcomed these moves, they do not account for expenditure on SEND home-to-school transport.

“Rising demand for EHCPs has also meant SEND transport has become one of the biggest challenges for councils.

“The rise is the third highest spend pressure facing councils over the next few years, behind their growing expenditure of care services.”