The Isle of Wight Council spent millions on taxis last year, with journeys covering everything from education and child protection to homelessness and social care.
A Freedom of Information Request (FOI) by Island Echo to the Isle of Wight Council (IWC) has revealed that the IWC spent more than £2.4million on taxi fares in 2024/25. The figure for the last financial year is nearly £500,000 more than the expenditure in 2022/23.
Now, Island Echo can reveal that fares were spent not just on school transport but also on adult social care, child support and protection, trading standards and homelessness support.
ISLE OF WIGHT COUNCIL TAXI FARE PAYMENTS BY FINANCIAL YEAR AND REASON
| Reason for Hire | 2022-23 (£) | 2023-24 (£) | 2024-25 (£) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Home to School & College Transport | 1,930,743 | 2,116,878 | 2,408,137 |
| Education Other Than At School / In College | – | 5,559 | 7,749 |
| Support for Looked After Children | 34,579 | 12,689 | 8,638 |
| Child Support & Protection | 6,710 | 5,147 | 4,752 |
| Adult Social Care | 725 | 305 | 797 |
| Homelessness Support | 419 | 306 | 29 |
| Trading Standards | 78 | – | – |
| Total | 1,973,254 | 2,140,884 | 2,430,101 |
Earlier this week, an Isle of Wight Council spokesperson said:
“We recognise the concerns raised regarding the current expenditure on the use of taxis and small vehicles to transport children to school. These arrangements are only used when necessary and to meet the needs of the child.
“They reflect a growing national challenge faced by local authorities in the delivery of their statutory duties in the context of increasing needs amongst children and young people.
“The increase in transport costs is in line with national pressures, as highlighted in a recent report by the Local Government Association (LGA). A significant driver of this growth is the rising need for children to access specialist Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) provision, which often requires tailored transport solutions.”
About time the freeloading parasitic parents paid for their kids to get to school and not the taxpayers. That is the problem in society today, to many freeloaders, leeching off the workers
Parents will keep taking off the state.
Oh, absolutely… because nothing screams “parasitic freeloaders” like… parents trying to get their kids an education so they can grow up to actually contribute to society instead of, you know, whining on Facebook about “the good old days.”
And yes, you’re right, back when one income could pay the bills, buy a house, raise kids, and maybe even a holiday or two, life was such a brutal struggle. Must’ve been exhausting choosing between which one parent got to work while the other stayed home, compared to today’s families juggling two jobs, insane rents, and childcare costs that look like a second mortgage.
But sure, let’s clutch our pearls about taxi fares, whilst boot licking the MPs who scounge 17m a year for their food
I fear you are as inaccurate, biased, uninformed and pearl-clutching as those you criticise, Jim. There was indeed only one income in the average household in the ‘ good old days’. It’s true parents did not have to juggle two jobs, but life then could be almost unimaginably tough for people like you to grasp. Dad went to work on a bike if he had one, everyday foods today were a mostly unaffordable luxury, and the idea of a foreign holiday was a fantasy. I had friends in big families who slept on the floor and literally came close to starvation. My dad worked long hours in a dirty job so we could have an exotic week’ s holiday in a leaky hut on Hayling Island ( we couldn’t afford the Isle of Wight). That was the reality of life in the good mold days for the vast majority of people. People like you should learn more about the true past and perhaps begin to understand and appreciate the potential advantages and benefits of life today for ordinary people.
Oh spare me the misty-eyed sob story. I lived it. I don’t need you giving me some second-hand war story, I remember the coal fires, the outside loo, the draughts rattling through single-glazed windows, and all the fun of postwar austerity Britain. And you know what? It was still easier for families to get by than it is for young people today.
Back then you could actually buy a house on one income. Now? You can work multiple jobs and still not even cover rent. Childcare costs more than a mortgage, food bank queues are longer than the NHS waiting list, and you’ve got the nerve to act like today’s generation should be grateful for the scraps they get? Don’t make me laugh.
And the irony of you calling me “uninformed and biased” while you’re flapping your gums about a situation you’ve clearly never lived through yourself? Chef’s kiss. Maybe step down off the soapbox, stop polishing your rose-tinted specs, and admit that today’s generation is getting shafted far harder than we ever did.
Oh, absolutely… because nothing screams “parasitic freeloaders” like… parents trying to get their kids an education so they can grow up to actually contribute to society instead of, you know, whining on Facebook about “the good old days.”
And yes, you’re right, back when one income could pay the bills, buy a house, raise kids, and maybe even a holiday or two, life was such a brutal struggle. Must’ve been exhausting choosing between which one parent got to work while the other stayed home, compared to today’s families juggling two jobs, insane rents, and childcare costs that look like a second mortgage.
But sure, let’s clutch our pearls about taxi fares, whilst boot licking the MPs who scounge 17m a year for their food.
This is how I would prefer my taxes be spent. Rather this than the 17 million we pay to subsidise MPs meals of caviar and pressed duck leg. Or MP expenses to heat their second homes and stables.
No wonder our council tax keeps going up.
Rather than paying taxi companies, cheaper to
employ a few drivers to drive mini buses to take kids
to school.
Personally they should get a bus, walk or go by bike.
Let’s be honest this is lazy parenting where parents can’t motivate there kids to go to school and get the council to take there kids to school in a taxi … taxi company’s are milking it and turning down jobs during school run times .., I hope this is remembered when the money dries up from the council .. as I won’t ever use any of this parasite cab companies ….
Absolute waste of money. Don’t give me all the SEND excuses, and that the kids can’t use a bus, but attend a class full of other people. Makes no sense. Stop pandering to the parents who have big cars but are just to lazy to take there own kids to school.
Could it be that a few well informed people are making a fortune out of the tax payers and the council, may be like birmingham where they discovered that cab firms run by close families of councillors were running a closed shop system with the inside knowledge they had.
The council has virtually no control over much of this expenditure because they have statutory obligations. But questions need to be asked about why so many children have to be taxied to and from school at the taxpayer’s expense? Surely parents have a responsibility to get their children to school even if the child has special needs. But too many parents seek to have their children labelled with some disability then expect the to relinquish all responsibility for them. It seems tat every other child you meet these days had ADHD and autism. Of course, many will and have special needs but one suspects that it is also used as a cop-out. I realise I will be shouted down but you have to stop and think when the taxi bill alone is two and a half million a year.
Agree. And many are fed utter crap, which would affect anyone’s mental and physical health, let alone a child. All very sad.
Oh yes, of course. parents are all just queueing up to get their kids “labelled” with disabilities for the sheer glamour of a 40-minute taxi ride to school and a lifetime of paperwork, appointments, and battles with the council. What a treat.
And naturally, you think mum and dad should just magic themselves into being in two places at once -dropping one kid 10 miles that way, another 15 miles the other way, and then somehow still keeping their jobs so they don’t end up on the benefits you’d also moan about. Because clearly, the real problem here isn’t government cuts or lack of local provision, it’s parents being lazy freeloaders for daring to want their kids educated.
And the little pearl you dropped about “every other child having ADHD or autism” – well done, you’ve just proven you’ve got zero understanding of how diagnosis works. SEN kids have always been here. The difference is, they used to get written off like I was… autistic and ADHD, born in the 60s, branded “difficult,” left sitting at home while my peers got an education. Result? A lifetime of minimum-wage graft and no opportunities. Is that your big master plan? Screw them over early, then moan when they end up on benefits? Genius policy.
But hey, carry on imagining that parents are pulling some kind of Ocean’s Eleven scam just to score a council-funded taxi. It’s a lot easier than facing the fact that your government wastes billions elsewhere while you cause agro over kids getting to school.
Surely is there another way of doing this? £2.4 million is a lot of money to play with.
How on earth did these snowflakes get on years ago ? We seem to bend over backwards for everyone these days, what about teaching the children how the real world works ?
It’s the Me First society and we all pay dearly for it, every single day.