Update March 2023
Assisted Travel Service Information and Engagement Events
- In person Monday 27 March 2023 10:30 to 12:30 at Hill House
- Online Thursday 30 March 2023 19:00 to 20:30
The London Borough of Sutton commissions Cognus to provide travel assistance to eligible families, to support pupils getting to and from school. The service and Travel policy are to be reviewed to ensure that it makes the best use of the resources available, continues to provide the right support for children and young people and can meet growing demand during the difficult financial challenges facing residents (as well as the Council).
The event will be facilitated by us, Sutton Parent Carers Forum Steering Group (SPCF) and will be an early opportunity for Cognus and the Council to share information about the challenges, and potential opportunities, of adapting the Travel policy, as well as to hear from families about their experiences of the service and any ideas they have for the review. This is not a formal consultation nor will they be putting forward any formal proposals at this stage. They recognise any changes in the future may have an impact on families, so want to talk to families early in the process. The full letter can be downloaded here and includes more information
The session will last for approximately an hour and then individual 'surgeries' are available with Travel staff but these must be booked with us, in advance
SEN Transport Update 12.9.19
Parents raised individual issues relating to the implementation of the new transport arrangements at the open meetings on 10th September with Sharon Scott.
During the course of the implementation of the new arrangements SPF worked in close partnership with LBS to liaise with parents and carers to resolve the problems. As well as being involved in the independent review, we have been asked by LBS to contribute to the lesson learnt review that will be undertaken on transport which starts next week. We will feed in all the issues we are aware of but please do let us know if there are any current problems that we need to raise as part of the review.
A key issue from the meetings on Tuesday was to check that all drivers and escorts are DBS checked and we have confirmed with LBS that DBS checks are in place for all drivers and escorts
The SEN transport team are continuing to work through any outstanding issues and if you have any issues please do raise these with the SEN transport team on 020 8323 0408 so they are aware.
We will also be holding a transport coffee morning, after the review is completed, which will be attended by both Cognus and the Council. This will be held before half term; as well as an update on the review there will be staff available to discuss individual issues
Transport Update September 2019
We have been working with LBS and Cognus to support those families without details (or with issues) about the travel arrangements for their children. The Sutton Parent Carer Forum have been instrumental in drawing issues to Cognus’ attention and supporting families through our team and networks. We hope that all families have now had details confirmed. We have raised all the queries sent to us with Cognus who are in the process of chasing providers and have been calling the families affected to ensure they have the latest position and have written to as many as possible to confirm things.
Please be aware that in the majority of cases, letters will have been sent by email via an 'Egress' account (to keep the information secure) so if nothing is showing in your inbox please check your spam folder to ensure it has not been diverted. For those who do not have email addresses, hard copies will be sent. If you have not received your letter then please contact the transport team at sen.transport@cognus.org.uk or call on 0208 323 0460 as soon as you are able to.
Linda and Jane from our Steering Group attended the ‘Meet the Provider’ morning for parents between 10.00 and 1.00, on Friday 30th August at the Civic Offices in Sutton. This was a drop-in session to give parents the chance to meet a representative of the company that will be providing transport for their child for the coming year and to ask any questions that you may have. We have passed your feedback to Cognus and the Commissiong Team at the Local authority so that they can address any issues raised. Please do contact us if you need any further help suttonparentsforum@outlook.com
SEN Transport Update August 2019
Transport Update - We have started writing to all families who will be receiving transport in September. We are doing this because we have changed the contracts for the upcoming school year. We are now in the process of agreeing driver and passenger assistant details. We understand this change could present a challenge. To help with this we are asking the new contractors to contact parents before the planned start of the school year to familiarise families with the expected crew and ensure that the crew have the latest information on your family's specific needs. If you haven’t been contacted by the contractor by Monday 26 August, please let us know so we can contact them on your behalf.
We are also holding a ‘meet the contractor’ event in Sutton’s Civic Offices on Friday 30 August from 10:00am to 1:00pm. Please feel free to drop in to meet with the transport team from Cognus and the route controllers from all our contractors. However, if you can’t make this date, we are still available on the phone or by email. Email Sen.transport@cognus.org.uk Telephone 020 8323 0460
Home to school transport has been commissioned through a framework agreement since summer 2015. The framework expires this summer and Commissioners and the Transport Team would like to have a conversation about the future commissioning arrangements for home to school transport and your expectations of the companies we use to provide transport.
We arranged a Focus Group on May 16th 2019 so that the Local Authority could hear the views of parent/carers prior to re-commissioning providers. As part of the session parent/carers were able to review relevant parts of the specification and a new draft driver and passenger assistant handbook
These are the notes from the meeting
If parents/carers have not been contacted by their provider by 26/08/2019 then they should contact the Cognus Transport Team so that they can insure that all parents/carers know who to expect at the beginning of term. There is an invitation to the meet the provider event at Civic Offices at the end of August, we will udate with more details as soon as we have them