Soft Market Testing Provision of Assistance with Travel (Home to School Transport) for Children and Young People with special education needs and disabilities in the London Borough of Waltham Forest

Tender description

The London Borough of Waltham Forest (“the Authority”) is undertaking a market engagement exercise to establish the level of interest of organisations to provide assistance with travel (home to school transport) for children and young people with special educational needs. It is a statutory requirement for local authorities to provide this service. The contract is for the planning, implementation and provision of passenger transport services within the boundaries of Waltham Forest. The scope of this contract covers eligible in-borough children/young people with Special Educational Needs or Disabilities (SEND) attending in-borough establishments regardless of their condition or complexity of needs. Our eligible service users attend any of the Waltham Forest educational provisions catering for children and young people from the age of 5-25. Although not statutory, in exceptional circumstances assessed on case-by-case basis, transport might be awarded to children allocated educational placement before they turn 5. In some circumstances transport to and from respite centres or hospices might be required. A requirement of the contract will be to provide drivers and passenger assistants (PAs) for all routes. In addition, staff recruited for the service must have relevant training including but not limited to disability awareness, autism awareness, safeguarding, challenging behaviour as well as the role specific qualifications i.e., for PAs. All staff working on this contract must be paid at least the London Living Wage and will be subjected to full compliance checks. The successful provider will be responsible for making arrangements for any depot or office space required to deliver this contract. The service will be expected to start from 1st September 2025, however there will be a requirement to work with the Local Authority around six months prior to the service commencement date. Keywords: SEND Transport