Budget and spend for SEN pupils - Find a freedom of information request

Home to school transport spend and operation.



1. What was the budget and actual spend 23/24 fiscal year, if possible, how much of this was for SEND pupils?

2. What is the budget for 24/25 fiscal year, if possible, how much of this is for SEND pupils?

3. How many private hire routes are operating and for how many pupils, if possible private hire?

4. On average how long does it take to get operators licence assuming that all of the information provided is correct?

5. On average how long does it take to get onto the DPS assuming that all of the information provided is correct?

6. How are the home to school run jobs published on the DPS?



* Are they per school or individual routes?

* Are they mainly posted throughout the year or at certain times of the year?

 I can confirm that the following information is held by Lincolnshire County Council;

1. Budget – £48,698,336

SEND Budget - £17,570,571

Overall spend - £56,247,054
SEND Spend - £22,283,309

SEND spend only includes pupils\students attending an SEND Establishment

2. Budget - £52,595,702

SEND Budget - £19,586,496

SEND spend only includes pupils\students attending an SEND Establishment

3. Note - 8 Seats or less include both Private Hire and Hackney Carriage operators

Between September 24 2024 and November 24 2024 we have operated 679 SEND contracts of 8 seats or less.  These contracts conveyed 1,900 SEND pupils\students.

4. Lincolnshire County Council (LCC) does not issue Operator Licenses, this is done via your local District Council  or Traffic Commissionaire, for vehicles over 16 seats.  It is a requirement to have an Operators License to join our DPS (Dynamic Purchasing System), which will then allow you to take part in our tender events.

5. DPS rounds are closed regularly, usually on a weekly basis (if there are any new applications).  Following a successful application, you will be contacted by a member of staff to visit you to complete processes check as part of LCC’s onboarding process.

6.  We publish tender information in ProContract (this is the same system you use to register to join the DPS).  Tender events are either:

a.      Best Price Bid (BPB). Where suppliers submit their bids prior to the event closing. 

b.      eAuction (DPS). Where suppliers attend a live auction event and place bids in realtime.  Suppliers will see their ranking and have the option to submit further bids should they wish

c.      Short Term Quotes.  These are sent via email to supplier on the DPS.  Suppliers will normally have 24 hours to submit their email response.

The award of all tender options is lowest cost, however for Best Price Bids we will also consider Most Advantageous Tender (MAT), this would be via Option Bids.