Pupils travel miles to SEND schools, data shows

Pupils with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) in South Yorkshire are travelling long distances each week to attend schools outside the region.

Children are going as far as Derby and Nottingham to go to special schools and councils in Sheffield, Barnsley, Doncaster and Rotherham have all overspent on SEND transport, according to local authority data.

Sheffield City Council recently revealed children were doing round trips of up to 50 miles to attend schools in different areas.

A spokesperson for Barnsley Council said their aim was to see all children educated locally but there had been "significant increases in demand for specialist places".

Councils in Rotherham, Doncaster and Barnsley have also released transport figures in response to a Freedom of Information request by the BBC.

Barnsley Council said the furthest school it transported pupils to was Include Education in Derby, which is a 108-mile round trip. Two pupils attended this school five days a week, a spokesperson said.

There were 1,175 children entitled to school transport in Barnsley, with 349 travelling out of the borough.

The council paid for shared transport, a personal travel budget to parents and single occupancy taxis "in extenuating circumstances".

The projected overspend on SEND transport for this financial year was £1.4m.

Councillor Ashley Peace, cabinet spokesperson for children's services, said: "Our ambition in Barnsley is for all children, wherever possible, to be educated in borough, and we work alongside our education partners to meet need locally.

"All areas are facing significant increases in demand for specialist places and, dependent on need, we always seek to find a provider who meets that need.

"Unfortunately, those providers aren't always close."

Peace said the council was "working hard as part of our sufficiency strategy to secure more local places for our children".

He said the authority had created additional places in recent years and had plans under way to further expand provision.

Doncaster Council said one pupil travelled to Portland College in Nottingham, which is a 73-mile round trip. The transport was provided three days per week.

The authority said 980 children were entitled to school transport and about 146 of these children were traveling outside the borough.

Shared vehicles such as taxis and minibuses, as well as personal travel budgets, were being used to transport children and the council's SEND transport budget had overspent by £282,618 in the 2024/2025 financial year.

Doncaster Council previously said it had opened new specialist provision for pupils and was focusing more effort on supporting schools to meet needs at an earlier point.

Rotherham Council said three children attended Eastwood Grange in Chesterfield - making the 82-mile round trip every day.

There were 1,439 children entitled to SEND transport in Rotherham and 125 were travelling outside the borough, according to the data.

The council paid for transport through parental reimbursements, independent travel training with free bus passes, shared and single occupancy taxis and minibuses.

Rotherham Council has overspent on SEND transport by £300,000

The council previously said it was increasing SEND capacity at mainstream schools.

The government originally planned to publish reforms to the SEND system last autumn but delayed this until 2026.

The County Councils Network said the system was "in crisis" and warned local authorities could end up £6bn in deficit by March because of the costs associated with supporting young people with Education, Health and Care Plans.

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