Major cutbacks to transport for post-19 school and college pupils with special educational needs (SEN) are set for September.

Sutton Council's children, family, and education (CFE) committee reached the decision earlier this month, to stop providing transport 'where it is appropriate to do so', while individuals will now be considered on a case-by-case basis.

More investment will be made into encouraging those affected to travel more independently through the independent travel training scheme.

Colin Hagreen, the council’s finance and transport manager for SEN, said: “I think, in summary, 56 responses in the context of 700 letters out, perhaps the response [to the consultation] was not overwhelming in terms of the numbers that came back.

“But based on the comments that we have got, we are making recommendations as we have done in the report. Mainly because of the financial pressures that we have got, in SEN transport, so we are – or were – overspending on our SEN transport budget last year.

“We must, as I have said earlier in the meeting, living within our financial means. There was not anything that came back in the consultation that was sufficiently strong or sufficiently frequent, in terms of what was said that would lead me to believe that we should change any of the proposals in the consultation document.

“As I said earlier, I think this brings us in line with other local authorities [councils], particularly on the post-19 part of it, and therefore we have made the recommendations that we have.”

The changes, to be reviewed in 18 months, will affect how SEN transport is provided but not how many pupils are eligible to receive it.

Other adjustments include an annual reapplication process for parents and pupils, reducing the number of personal assistants on vehicles while increasing minibus usage, and providing personal travel budgets for the 2018/19 academic year.

A consultation on the proposed changes was held between January 16 and February 12, which found there to be as many positive responses as there were negative.

Respondents were concerned over the introduction of an annual reapplication process but increased investment into independent travel training was seen more favourably.

It comes as the council, which is currently forecasted to overspend on its SEN transport budget by £1.8 million, looks to target around £772,000 in savings by the end of the 2018/19 academic year.

The meeting was held on March 14.