North Yorkshire: Council considers £3m cuts to free school transport

Free school transport in North Yorkshire costs over £40m a year

Limiting the number of children eligible for free school transport in North Yorkshire could save the council £3m.

School transport is the third largest item of expenditure for North Yorkshire Council (NYC) at £42m a year.

The authority is considering only offering free transport to a child's nearest school rather than any suitable school in their catchment area.

If approved, a public consultation on the policy will begin on 5 February.

Transport is available from the start of the reception year, where the walking distance is two miles (3.2km) for children under eight and three miles (4.8km) for children over eight.

The Local Democracy Reporting Service said the number of children affected by only offering to take pupils to their nearest school remained unclear.

However, an NYC report stated other proposed eligibility changes, including for children who live with two different parents, would impact on few pupils.

An officer's report to the council stated the changes could have a "disproportionate impact on rural communities", as the prevalence of school transport services to rural schools is higher, because home to school travel distances are "inherently longer".

The proposed change would mean children would only have eligibility to one school

The report also stated the proposed policy change could impact admissions at schools where transport is an issue.

"Any proposal which reduces eligibility could result in increased use of parental cars dependent on the response and future behaviours of parents," it said.

"However, the potential focus of eligibility on the grounds of being driven to the nearest school only, could reduce the numbers of commissioned transport services over time and would reduce the travel distances for those services," it said.

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The report also suggests the authority's home to school transport network would benefit in terms of climate impact as a result of the changed policy.

The authority has forecast the need to use its £82m reserves within three years and a recurring deficit of about £40m, despite declaring more than £40m of savings as a result of the merger of eight councils in April 2023.

The council's executive member for education Annabel Wilkinson has been approached for a comment.