Home Local News Innovative approach secures transport service for vulnerable adults

Innovative approach secures transport service for vulnerable adults

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Changes introduced at the start of September will see Lancashire County Council save £2m whilst securing transport services for vulnerable adults in the face of severe pressures on the council’s budget.

Innovations in the way the council’s ‘in-house’ fleet of specially-adapted Travelcare buses is run, along with adjustments to the operation of county council-run day centres, will deliver the savings by doing more with a smaller fleet of buses.

The Travelcare fleet is used to take children with special educational needs and disabilities to school, and to take disabled and older people to day centres. Until now those journeys have all been made at the same time, but by starting day centre services an hour later, a smaller fleet can be used to first take children to school, then take adults to day centres.

The changes to the service were proposed after the council initially consulted on budget proposals in November 2015 to end free accessible transport for all adults attending day centres from 1 September 2016.

It had been proposed to provide a signposting and support service to assist day centre users and their carers to access alternative transport, and pay operators directly for the service.

However when the budget for 2016/17 went to Full Council for agreement in February this year it incorporated the revised plans to continue the service with the changes introduced this month.

County Councillor Tony Martin, cabinet member for adult and community services, said: “We’ve found an innovative solution which means that we can sustain this free transport service for some of Lancashire’s most vulnerable people, while also making some of the significant savings which are needed as a result of ongoing cuts to our budget and rising demand for our services.

“We understand this means some changes for the people who attend day centres but we’ve worked closely with them to minimise the impact as far as possible. It will mean people get picked up a bit later in the morning, but where they are attending county council day centres, they will also stay there later in the afternoon, and therefore receive the same level of service.

“This solution will be far better for people who use day centres and their carers than ending the service altogether, and we’ll be continuing to work over the coming weeks to optimise routes and timings to make sure the new arrangements work as well as possible.”

The transport service provides home to school journeys for more than 3,000 children with special educational needs and disabilities, with almost half of those travelling on the council’s own Travelcare buses. Over 1,000 disabled and older people also use the service to access day care and other community-based activities. The council is reducing the fleet by around 50 vehicles, with around 65 fewer frontline staff needed to deliver the newly configured service.

The savings being made are part of £65m savings agreed by the Full Council in February. It is forecast that the council needs to save around a further £200m by 2020/21.

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