Transport for children at non-local schools
This consultation closed on 12 May 2007.
Results
Since this consultation, our policy on home to school transport has changed.
For an overview of the new policy, see our page 'financial help with home to school travel'.
To read the policy in full, go to part two, pages 18–21, of the 'school admissions booklet for 2008–09'.
You can also find out more about why this review of home to school transport was recommended, by going to item 7 of the 'Scrutiny committee for Children's Services – 26 September 2006.
What was this consultation about?
We were considering stopping help with transport for parents who decide to send their child to a different school from the one in their local area. We previously chose to provide an allowance to parents who do this or provided a free space on a vehicle to the school if there was a suitable vehicle.
To qualify for help, both the school attended and the local school had to be over three miles from the home (or two miles if the child is under the age of eight). As far as we were aware, no other council had a scheme which supported choice in this way. Parents with the allowance were advised from the start that it could be withdrawn at any time.
Why was a change considered?
The Council is committed to low council tax increases because that is what local people have told us they want. But the increase in money we get from the Government doesn’t cover our inflation costs.
This means we have to make some difficult decisions about what services we continue to provide.
We will have to spend significantly more than we had planned this year on school transport. This is because transport costs are increasing by between 10% and 15% – well above the rate of inflation. If we cannot save money on school transport we will have to make savings elsewhere.
Why were changes being considered now?
The Government is changing the law on school transport. In future we will have to provide help to parents who send their children to a secondary school which is more than two miles but less than six miles away (15 miles for denominational schools)where the family receives free school meals or Working Tax Credit.
What is the cost of the current scheme?
At the moment we spend £41,000 on paying mileage allowances for 187 pupils. By making changes, this cost could be reduced over seven years or less. In addition we could potentially make an extra £50,000 by charging for children to use hired vehicles rather than providing free places as we currently do.
What changes were considered?
We currently provide more financial support than we are legally required to. These changes bring our support in line with the legal requirement.
This means stopping the current scheme and also charging parents when their children use hired vehicles (except for low income families where the child attends a secondary school). There are various other options which were explained in more detail in the questionnaire below.
