Did you know that if your child or children have a special educational need and/or disability, you could be eligible for a Personal Travel Budget (PTB)?
Did you know that if your child or children have a special educational need and/or disability, you could be eligible for a Personal Travel Budget (PTB)?
Opting for a Personal Travel Budget in Sefton gives parents and carers even greater choice and freedom when arranging home to school transport for their children, whether that be by car, taxi, bus or by train. The amount given will also increase from 18 pence per mile (ppm) to 45ppm from January 2018.
This support is optional for those parents or carers who volunteer to receive it.
The money you receive will be paid to you using a pre-paid card, which can be used and managed in the same way as a debit card.
To be eligible for a PTB, you should have been assessed to be eligible for home to school transport.
If a PTB is something that you are thinking of, the following information in our FAQs should be useful to you.
You can find the full array of support and services for families of children and young people with SEN and disabilities (SEND) at Sefton's Local Offer website
It is for all children pre-16 and those accessing education post-16.
If you find that the PTB is not working for you or that your circumstances have changed, the Local Authority will commission an alternative route, and while there is not a definitive timeframe, it is anticipated to take between 4-6 weeks.
You will need to give notice of your intention to stop payments so that they can be claimed back from the prepaid card and of course, transport for your child be rearranged.
In respect of your rearranged transport, please note that this may not be the same taxi driver or company that you used previously.
Where there other arrangements normally in place, such as driving your own car, if you are ill or the car breaks down, you will need to find alternative arrangements to transport your child to and from school.
If a child is ill or unable to go to school for a few days, their PTB will not be affected. If the absence is over a longer period or for over 10 days in an academic year, there will of course be an adjustment in the allowance for your home to school travel to reflect these issues.
No, the agreement will stipulate that your vehicle needs to be taxed, insured and have its MOT. It will be your responsibility as a parent / carer to make sure that your vehicle complies.
If there are funds in your PTB that are not used, they may be used for other support if appropriate. Direct payments are audited, which means that means unused moneys may be identified and taken back. This could happen via a due payment or you may be invoiced. If this happens, Sefton Council's Self Directed Support Team and Income Section will help you set up an arrangement that works for you.
There is sometimes an expectation that PTB is only for car travel, when it can actually be used for bus, taxi, rail etc. If your car breaks down, you can offset the PTB that you receive against those alternative travel arrangements while your car is being fixed.
You may also want to use PTB to offset the cost of the repair to your vehicle.
The Local Authority will have no involvement in this process. This is something that will need to be resolved between the parent/carer and your school.
Once you have been granted a PTB, your child's seat on the vehicle will either be cancelled or given to another child.
With the PTB does come additional freedom with your arrangements - if you have been satisfied with the service provided by a private company, during previous arrangements, you can set up a new arrangement with them privately.
It is also worth noting that without PTB, there is no guarantee that a contractor, driver/escort would remain the same whilst your child attends that school.
If you return to local authority provided transport at a later date if PTB has not worked for you, there is no guarantee that your child will return to their previous arrangement.
Your child will be assessed and your PTB will be granted based on the three payment bands pro-rata for two journeys a week.
You can claim for each child, but you will only receive 100% of the PTB for the first child of more than one of your children has attended the same school.
The Local Authority will continue to provide transport assistance, but would also consider whether you or the other parents would prefer a PTB. The vehicle would only be withdrawn if all of the children using the vehicle accessed a PTB or where they were allocated a space on another vehicle.
Yes.
The Local Authority only has a duty to arrange transport to drop off and collect children and the beginning and end of each school day. Any other times should be resolved between the parent and school setting.
No, this is something parents / carers need to organise for themselves.
Families can choose whose name the PTB will be in.