Sheffield City Council is preparing a new special needs transport contract it expects to cost about £13 million a year — mostly taxis — while arguing that efficiency work can still hold down the bill even as more children need a ride to school.
Around half of today’s home-to-school transport is run by the council’s own fleet; the rest goes to private providers. The authority says rising SEND demand has pushed spending hard in recent years, but unit costs are already moving the right way.
Demand and the legal duty
Councils must arrange free home-to-school transport for eligible 5 to 16-year-olds with special educational needs and disabilities, and for some adults who need travel for social care. Sheffield currently supports about 2,600 children and young people through that service, according to a Local Democracy Reporting Service piece for The Star.
Earlier in the summer, council papers cited to BBC News put the figure closer to 2,700, with about 43% travelling by taxi — a reminder that licensed taxis and PHVs sit at the sharp end of SEND logistics in the city.
How the bill was brought down
For 2025/26 the SEND transport budget was £20.5 million. Officers had feared an overspend of around £7 million. After cutting more than 300 single-occupancy taxi routes, sharing more journeys and expanding the council fleet, the year closed about £1.4 million overspent — a £5.6 million improvement on the earlier forecast, the BBC reported in July.
The Star says average cost per seat fell from £1,100 in 2024/25 to £1,026 in 2025/26. Other levers include more independent travel training — helping young people travel to school without a dedicated cab — and personal travel budgets so families can organise flexible journeys themselves.
New eight-year contract
The existing private-provider deal must end by February 2029 because of the Procurement Act 2023, which the council says opens a chance to lock in further savings. The replacement contract is planned for eight years and will still be largely taxi-based.
A report to the strategy and resources policy committee said overall costs are expected to “remain stable or reduce” over the contract period as efficiency measures bed in. Bidders will also be pressed on local apprenticeships, fair employment and vehicles that meet Sheffield’s clean air zone rules and the council’s 2030 carbon-neutral aim.
Why it matters for drivers
For Sheffield’s taxi and private hire trade, the story is mixed but familiar nationwide: fewer solo school runs as councils push sharing, travel training and parental budgets — while a multi-year, multi-million-pound contract still means a large block of SEND work staying with licensed vehicles. Operators chasing that work will need to show they can deliver shared routes, clean-air compliance and the social-value extras councils now write into tenders.