70th Report - Home-to-school transport

Select Committee

Public Accounts Committee HC 1238 6 March 2026

Report Status Response overdue

Conclusions & Recommendations 31 items (5 recs)

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Government Response (AI assessment · 6 of 31 classified)

Accepted 4

Accepted in Part 1

Acknowledged 1

Recommendations

4 results

3 Accepted

The Department does not yet have the data it needs to oversee home to school...

Recommendation

The Department does not yet have the data it needs to oversee home to school transport effectively. Though local authorities have submitted spending data on home to school transport for many years, the Department has only recently started to collect … Read more

Government Response Summary

The Department for Education has sent a separate letter setting out its plans for improving data quality and making the data collection mandatory, alongside the publication of this Treasury Minute.

HM Treasury

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4 Accepted

The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government has now set out the detail of...

Recommendation

The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government has now set out the detail of its new funding formula for home to school transport but not yet set out its plans for monitoring whether it proves to be successful in … Read more

Government Response Summary

The government will update needs formulas used to calculate local authority funding allocations through the Local Government Finance Settlement 2026-27 to 2028-29. The Department for Education will appraise the HTST Relative Needs Formula ahead of the next multi-year Local Government Finance Settlement from 2029-30.

HM Treasury

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5 Accepted

While the Government has now announced plans to write off 90% of the historic deficit...

Recommendation

While the Government has now announced plans to write off 90% of the historic deficit from SEND overspending, the plan for deficits arising from now until March 2028 remains unclear. Funding for SEND- related high-needs spending has not kept pace … Read more While the Government has now announced plans to write off 90% of the historic deficit from SEND overspending, the plan for deficits arising from now until March 2028 remains unclear. Funding for SEND- related high-needs spending has not kept pace with demand over the past decade, and local authority cumulative SEND deficits are projected to exceed £5 billion by the end of March 2026. In the November 2025 4 Budget, the Government announced that from 2028–29, it would meet SEND costs from central departmental budgets. In June 2025, Government extended the statutory override—the mechanism that has allowed local authorities to keep existing SEND high-needs deficits off council budgets— until March 2028. Acknowledging them as a shared responsibility between central and local government, in February 2026 MHCLG announced that all local authorities would be eligible to receive a grant covering 90% of historic deficits up to the end of 2025–26, subject to the Department for Education’s approval of a local authority SEND reform plan. MHCLG has not yet said what level of support it will offer on deficits arising from overspending which occurs from now to March 2028 or what, if any, support it will give to local authorities that avoided running up SEND deficits by making cuts to other services. While new funding arrangements will address SEND cost pressures for local authorities from 2028–29, they do not cover associated home to school transport costs, which will continue to put pressure on local authority budgets. recommendation a. MHCLG should, at the earliest opportunity, clarify the level of support it will provide to local authorities with ongoing deficits from overspending on high-needs budgets. b. MHCLG should explain the basis on which it will decide to write off historic deficits and how this will work in practice including what, if any, support it will give to local authorities that avoided running up SEND deficits by making cuts to other services. Show less

Government Response Summary

The government confirmed the first phase of support for SEND deficits, addressing historic High Needs-related deficits accrued up to the end of 2025-26, with the High Needs Stability Grant covering 90% of High Needs-related SEND deficit. The government will confirm the detail on further support for deficits arising in 2026-27 and 2027-28 before the Statutory Override ends in March 2028.

HM Treasury

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6 Accepted

Better local transport options and an integrated approach to education and transport planning, would reduce...

Recommendation

Better local transport options and an integrated approach to education and transport planning, would reduce home to school transport costs, particularly in the most rural settings. The ongoing decline of bus services, particularly in rural areas, is a long-standing concern … Read more

Government Response Summary

The government agrees with the recommendation and will work with DfT to ensure transport to schools is considered in guidance supporting the Bus Services Act 2025. DfE has worked with DfT to ensure that Better Connected takes account of transport to schools and education settings.

HM Treasury

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