An angry mum has accused council bosses of discrimination after being told she would have to fork out extra cash to pay for her disabled son’s school trip.
Jeanette Baxendale is seeking an apology from Aberdeenshire Council on behalf of her 10-year-old son Luca Allen, after his school charged £600 to send him on a skiing trip while all the other children in his primary six class were only being billed for £250.
Luca, a pupil at Meiklemill Primary in Ellon, and his 13-year-old brother Ethan both suffer from cerebral palsy and rely on wheelchairs to get around.
Mrs Baxendale said she had originally been told she would have to make up the £350 difference – the cost of providing specialist equipment at Glenshee ski centre – herself, but has since learned Aberdeenshire council will be seeking support from charities to cover the additional funds.
Last night the local authority insisted it believed “vulnerable” pupils should have the same opportunities as their classmates.
Mrs Baxendale, a freelance photographer said: “What I’d really like is an apology for all the distress caused by how poorly this has been handled by the council and the school.
“It’s discrimination against Luca because he has been given a bill that’s more that twice what all the other children have to pay.
“The reason for the extra money is fair enough, but right at the beginning the school should have accounted for the extra costs and handled it in-house, we should never have even been made aware of it.
“At first I thought I would have to pay it myself, but now I’ve been told that the council are appealing to charity to fund Luca’s trip.”
Mrs Baxendale said the worry over the costs had caused a great deal of anxiety to the family, who stay at Toll of Birness, north of Ellon.
The two boys require round-the-clock care from her and her husband, and need help dressing themselves, feeding themselves, and getting out of bed in the morning.
“Adding the hassle of whether Luca can go on his school trip or not to our workload has cause a lot of disagreements and problems for us, it has been an absolute headache,” she added.
“We’ve looked at both sides of the argument, and understand that there have to be additional costs for Luca, but I hate that he’s being seen as a charity case.
“I’m not a revengeful person, and I’m not seeking any remuneration whatsoever – all I want is an apology for all the stress I’ve had to go through not knowing if he’s getting to go or not and for the discrimination he’s faced.”
A spokesman for Aberdeenshire Council said the authority encouraged schools to take accessibility into account when organising trips to ensure everyone can attend where possible.
“Where there are additional costs we will work with the parents and school in an attempt to help secure funding,” he added.
“We believe it is important that vulnerable pupils have the same opportunity as all their classmates and that school trips are accessible to all.”
A spokeswoman for Inclusion Scotland, a consortium of groups representing people with disabilities, said it agreed with Mrs Baxendale that Luca had been discriminated against on this occasion.
“The school has a statutory duty to meet the reasonable adjustments that Luca needs to be able to join his friends on this school trip, as it is part of his total educational experience,” she said.
“We also think that viewing the additional funds for equipment he needs as a charity case is discriminatory as the funding should be provided by the school or local authority to cover the costs of the reasonable adjustment.”