Member

I had a meeting and a long discussion about this with the SEND transport operators group of the Licensed Private Hire Car Association. I heard a couple of tales of what these services do. A driver and a carer transported a child who was non-verbal, and off their own bat they decided to learn sign language so that they could communicate with the child. They were not funded for this; it was just something they did. Imagine that child having those people wrenched away from them because the service cannot be afforded any more. The other story was about a girl who was really stressed because, through no fault of anyone, she was going to be 15 minutes late for school. She was really stressed about getting into school at that point, so the carer said, “It’s okay—you’re not going in on your own; I’ll come in with you”. Again, it was not in the contract but was people going that extra mile.