School transport service to cost council £22m a year

A local education authority predicts its home-to-school transport services will cost it more than £22m this year, a Freedom of Information (FOI) request has revealed.

The figures, obtained by the Local Democracy Reporting Service, showed West Northamptonshire Council's spending on the service had increased by nearly £7m a year compared with 2022-2023, largely due to an increase in demand.

Its most expensive individual contract was £56,050 a year to transport one child 190 miles (305km) to their place of education twice a week, according to the FOI.

A spokesperson for the Reform UK-run council said it was working on a number of initiatives to tackle the rising costs of transport services.

Initiatives included improvements in data management and considering new ways of working, such as the Billing Brook home-to-school pilot, a virtual reality project which gives pupils with special educational needs and disabilities (Send) the confidence to use public transport, the spokesperson said.

It also pointed out the rising cost of transport was a national issue.

The FOI revealed the money was spent on taking 6,842 children to school.

In 2022-2023, there were 5,930 students using home-to-school transport services in West Northants — almost 1,000 fewer than current levels.

The largest cohort of children accessing the service were children with Send.

The figures showed a further 612 Send students used the home-to-school travel service, a rise of 59%, while there was an increase of 300 non-Send pupils needing transport.

Fees 'under review'

Councils must provide free school transport to children aged 4-16 whose nearest school is more than three miles away.

West Northamptonshire's provision also covers children under eight years old, where the walking distance is more than two miles, and some children over the age of 16 who have an education, health and care plan (EHCP) who cannot reasonably be expected to walk to their nearest suitable school.

Families of children who are over 16, or who do not meet the walking distance criteria, must contribute £1,000 for the academic year if they wish to access the council-organised school travel assistance.

The cost of this service to parents/carers was frozen last year, but it had increased from £600 per year in 2023-2024.

On being asked if the fee might rise again in next year's budget, the council said it was "currently under review".

Research published by the National Audit Office found local authority spending on home-to-school transport had risen by 70% since 2015-2016, costing councils £2.3bn in 2023-2024.