Nearly half a million under-16s in England use taxis, buses and other transport funded by their local authorities to get to school, according to government estimates.
The new data comes amid warnings from councils about the growing cost of providing transport for pupils with special educational needs and disabilities (Send).
A head teachers’ union said the transport played a “crucial” role in getting many children to school but councils were having to make cutbacks.
The data suggests that 6% of all pupils in England receive funded transport, and that 40% of those pupils aged under 16 (180,000) have Send.
Local authorities spent £1.5bn on transport for under-16s with Send in the 2023-24 financial year, about two-and-a-half times what it was in 2015-16.
The new data from the Department for Education (DfE) – which is the first of its kind – is based on voluntary submissions from three quarters of local authorities in February and March.
It suggests that, across England:
- 470,000 pupils under the age of 16 (6% of the total) use home to school transport
- 50,000 pupils over 16 also use funded transport
- 9% of under-16s who receive funded transport because of Send travel alone in single-occupancy vehicles
Local authorities in England are required by law to arrange funded transport for children who live a certain distance from school, who cannot walk because of Send or mobility problems, or who cannot walk due to safety reasons.
The Local Government Association, which represents councils in England, said the pressure had ramped up over the past three years.
“Continuing to fulfil the current statutory responsibilities for home to school transport is becoming increasingly financially unsustainable, posing a real threat of bankruptcy for some, and necessitating cuts to other vital aspects of children’s services provision in many more,” it said in a report this summer.
Rob Williams, senior policy advisor at school leaders’ union the NAHT, said funded transport “plays a crucial role” in helping many children “attend school regularly and develop their independence”.
“However, a growing number of councils are reducing transport provision due to increasing budgetary pressures, and when children simply cannot get to school this threatens to deepen existing attainment gaps and place even more pressure on already stretched parents,” he added.
Ministers have faced calls not to cut education, health and care plans (EHCPs) for children and young people with Send.
Last month, the education committee recommended that the government keep them.
The National Audit Office has previously said the Send system in England is “broken”, not financially sustainable and failing to deliver better outcomes for children and young people.
The DfE announced last week that it was delaying reforms to the Send system and other policy proposals for schools in England until next year.
Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson said there would be a “further period of co-creation, testing our proposals with the people who matter most in this reform”.
Additional reporting by Wesley Stephenson.
