A mum said she was at her wit's end after her eight-year-old son with special needs has not had access to his free school transport for five months.

Jade Thorpe and her family, including her son Reggie, eight, were moved by Canterbury City Council to a house in Gillingham in April after their previous home was sold by their landlord.

Reggie, who was born prematurely and has global developmental delay, has an Education, Heath and Care Plan (EHCP) because of his special educational needs, which makes him eligible for free school transport.

The family – mum Jade, 36, and children Angel, 19, Rosie, 17, and Reggie – had previously lived in Franklyn Road, Canterbury, the same road as The Canterbury Primary School.

But after the move to temporary accommodation in Greenfield Road, Gillingham, 28 miles away, Jade was left with no way of getting her son to school and no access to the free transport that Reggie was entitled to.

Normally, because the family live in Medway, Medway Council would be responsible for Reggie's transport and school placement, and his EHCP would have to be moved to Medway.

But because the family are in temporary accommodation and could be moved from Medway at any time, Jade does not want to transfer Reggie from his primary school, which had recently added him to a special needs unit to accommodate his learning difficulties.

On September 15, Jade was told that Kent's Special Educational Needs and Disability team (Kent SEN) will make an exception and keep responsibility for Reggie's school placement and will cover the transport costs until Christmas, when, if the family have not been moved out of Medway, the responsibility for his school placement will be passed on to Medway Council.

But more than a week later, Reggie, who has not been able to get to school since April, still has no transport.

Jade said she does not have the means to pay for Reggie's transport all the way from Gillingham to his school in Canterbury, but is unable to drive him herself due to her disability.

The mum-of-three has a spinal cord compression which she has had six operations for. She was previously a manager at a tool company but her disability and pain medication have made it impossible to work.

She said: "When they moved us to Medway they were very, very aware of my disability and the fact I couldn't possibly get him to school from here. He's in Year 4, and he's only at Year 1 level. He'll be even further behind with school now, and they just don't care.

"He could be back to school within a few weeks and I am overjoyed, I'm over the moon, but scared in case it all falls apart again.

"I dare not tell Reggie as he feels so let down already, I don't want to get his hopes up if there's any chance it could go wrong.

"I'm definitely excited for him to be getting the education he deserves and interaction with his peers his own age. But I'm still scared for him – as he was already so behind – and what an impact this will have had on him. It shouldn't have taken this long."

Recently, before the family were moved to Medway, Fortnite and dinosaur lover Reggie had been placed into a special needs unit at The Canterbury Primary School, to accommodate his learning difficulties.

Jade said she has been called into appointments at her son's school during his absence because he has been off for so long.

She said: "They wanted him to switch schools, but he has anxiety already.

"If he switched schools his confidence would just hit the floor again. And it's taken so long to get him where he is confidence-wise.

"To find a school with a setting that works for him and has space for him is tough enough, and the living situation could be temporary.

"We could be moved back to Canterbury or somewhere else at just 24 hours notice and he would have to switch schools again.

"It's just been so unfair. Moving was bad enough for him, but he's been hyperactive non-stop. It's been really hard. He's depressed, I'm depressed. It's just a constant battle.

"I tried to get him to do school work at home with me but he just couldn't do it."

Jade contacted Medway Council and the Special Educational Needs and Disability teams (SEN) at Kent County Council about help with transport when the family were moved in April, but struggled to get a response.

She said: "I told SEN over email that I was at my wit's end and they finally got back to me to apologise but then I stopped hearing from them again.

"I phoned them earlier this month and I was told there was a six to eight week backlog.

"I do understand that, but I'd been waiting since April.

"Medway Council had said Reggie would have to have his EHCP moved over to Medway before they even thought about providing transport – but we didn't want to do that when we could be moved at any time, because we don't have a tenancy agreement here at all.

"I was told to look for another rental property which would be all okay if myself and my children didn't have needs.

"Another of my children suffers from ADHD and has mental health issues that are affected by all the moving. Reggie can't keep moving to temporary houses, and I need a grant to have a wet room done for my disability.

"I can't get that if every house I move to is temporary, so that's just a whole new battle."

On September 15, Jade heard from Kent SEN that an exception would be made and that it would continue to hold responsibility for Reggie's school placement and transport costs.

This meant that Jade would not have to transfer her son's EHCP to Medway Council and enrol him in school there yet, and for now he can stay at the school he is used to, which accommodates his educational needs.

Jade was told that if the family are still in their temporary accommodation in Medway at Christmas, Reggie's file will have to be moved to Medway Council, which will then be responsible for Reggie's school placement.

However, transport has still not been provided and Reggie still isn't able to get to school.

A Kent County Council spokesman said: “The responsibility for supplying home-to-school transport for children with special needs rests with the local authority where the pupil resides; the location of the school is not the deciding factor.

“In other words, if this pupil lived in Canterbury and was placed in a school in Medway, rather than the reverse, then KCC would be providing the transport, as we do with other children travelling out of the county.

“We have every sympathy for this family in being placed in accommodation some distance from the school, but in this instance the transport responsibility rests with Medway Council until such times as accommodation can be found nearer the school.”

A Medway Council spokesman said: “We have offered advice to the family and will be contacting them again to offer further support.”