FAMILIES set to be charged to for transport for special educational needs children could be hit hard, councillors fear.

Cash-strapped Thurrock Council is set to ask for an £80 a month contribution from parents for school transport for Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) children aged over 16..

The plan will see even those on low incomes charged £40 a month. The council says bursaries and support will be available to hard up families but it has been left with no choice but to recoup some of the £6,000 a year per child transported to local colleges and schools and the £16,000 a year per child being transported outside the borough.

Councillors at a children's services overview and scrutiny committee meeting on Tuesday were unhappy about the extra financial strain on families during a cost of living crisis.

Speaking at the meeting, Cllr Sara Muldowney, vice chair of the committee, said: "As it currently stands I'm not in favour of it. I think more work should have been done to maybe have a sliding scale so more well off families were charged more so that low income families cold benefit.

"The bursary could potentially be part of paying for that but just looking at our own emergency funds, I know that as a matter of course people are turned down because there is not a lot of money in there to go round everybody."

She added: "It goes against the grain to be charging people who are on the absolute breadline an extra £450 a year."

Sarah Williams, Thurrock Council's strategic lead for the council's education support service, defended the charge. She said: "The bursary is to help the poor. This is the first year we are proposing to bring this change in. The council is in a different financial position to what we were previously.

"We don't take it lightly that we're having to look at contributions from families but we do have a budget and we do have lots of children becoming eligible for transport. Education and Health Care Plans are increasing and our budget has increased for our statutory duty to provide transport for those children."

Under the new transport strategy for children aged five to 16, parents must apply for places at schools nearest to them to be eligible for home to school transport.

However, if they are given a place further afield they will no longer be required to move to a closer school if a space becomes available, as is the case now. The council says it recognises this is disruptive for children's education.