North Yorkshire Council

 

Extraordinary Meeting of Council

 

21 May 2025

 

Motion relating to Home to School Travel Policy

 

Report of the Corporate Director Children & Young People’s Services

 

1.0       PURPOSE OF REPORT

 

1.1       This report provides the background information and context for the Home to School Travel Policy as Members consider the Motion that has been proposed by Councillor Bryn Griffiths and seconded by Cllr Peter Lacey:

           “That this Council’s Home to School Transport Policy adopted in July 2024 be revised, so that free home-to-school transport for eligible pupils once again applies to a child’s catchment school, as well as their nearest suitable school. This policy should also be revised to apply from the end of the current school admissions round, with pre-agreed criteria put in place for settling appeals for pupils impacted since 1st September 2024.”

 

 

2.0       SUMMARY

 

2.1       This report contains a brief reminder for Councillors about the background to the 2024 Home to School Travel Policy change, the response to the consultation and the decision-making process as well as the communication that has taken place in relation to the policy change. Sections 4, 6, 7 and 8 set out the potential impact of the proposed Motion including:

 

·         A reintroduction of an inequality due to differences in access to catchment areas for different home addresses where some homes are located in the catchment of more than one school, whilst others have only one. Some families could have eligibility for travel assistance to several schools when others would not.

·         Additional costs to the Council due to some home addresses where the nearest suitable school and the catchment school are different and so there would be eligibility for travel assistance to more than one school for some families, but not all. This includes the cases where the home address has a catchment school that is out of county, even though it is not the nearest suitable school.

·         A risk of additional uncontrollable costs to the Council should an admission authority for a school or academy determine to extend its catchment.

·         The removal of any opportunity to deliver the £3m budgeted savings and a requirement for an increased use of reserves of £2,821k.

·         The risks of legal challenge from families that applied for school places during the 2024 admissions cycle, given the Motion is worded retrospectively.

·         A requirement for urgent and intensive communications about another change to the main criterion, including for families who are already within the admissions process.

 

Section 5 contains information about the early indicators of the policy impact during the current secondary admissions round.

 

3.0       BACKGROUND – the policy change          

 

3.1       The Council has a statutory duty to provide Home to School Travel for eligible children of compulsory school age in accordance with Statutory Guidance issued by the Department for Education (DfE). The Council is required to consult and implement policy changes to ensure compliance with the revised statutory guidance. The Council’s previous policy made provision for eligibility beyond statutory requirements and these elements bring associated costs. In North Yorkshire, the cost of providing Home to School Travel is one of Council’s three largest services by revenue expenditure (alongside Adult Social Care and Waste Management). The total expenditure during 2025-26 is £52.5 million and this has more than doubled since 2018-19 when the policy was previously updated. In the context of the financial challenges faced by the Council, officers considered it appropriate, given the financial position for school transport and the foreseeable rise in expenditure due to the statutory requirements, for there to be an examination of what changes could possibly be implemented in a new policy that would have the potential to reduce expenditure.

 

            CONSULTATION

 

3.2       Following a decision to consult made on 23rd January 2024, the Council carried out an extensive consultation upon the previous home to school transport policy. This included seeking views on six specific areas of discretionary provision.

 

3.3       The consultation took place between 12th February 2024 and 26th April 2024 generating 1,299 responses to the online survey, including 800 written responses to the ‘free text’ question. Copies of all responses were provided as part of the Executive report, as well as correspondence from Councillors - including Parish Councils, MPs, and school-based stakeholders - as well as families and commercial transport providers. Details are included in sections 5.3 and 5.4 of the report to the Executive on 16th July 2024. A summary of the issues raised was included in the report to the Executive.

 

            DECISION-MAKING

 

3.4       On 20th May 2024, the Children and Families Overview and Scrutiny Committee met and discussed the proposals. A report of this meeting was provided to help inform the Executive Committee when it considered the policy proposals at its meeting on 16th July 2024. During the same Overview and Scrutiny Committee meeting in May, a Notice of Motion to halt the cuts to free school bus services and to use emergency funding to support frontline services was also put forward.

 

3.5       The report, presented to the Executive Committee of the council on 16th July 2024, contained seven recommendations that were proposed to Full Council on 24th July 2024. The additional seventh recommendation proposed that the Council use its discretionary powers to extend eligibility for travel assistance to secondary age pupils from low-income families:

 

i)              to retain this extended eligibility in reception year as part of the future travel policy.

 

ii)             to retain this extended eligibility in Year 3 as part of the future travel policy.

 

iii)           to remove transport assistance to second address as part of the future travel policy.

 

iv)           to remove travel assistance to children attending designated religious character primary schools as part of the future travel policy.

 

v)            a proposal that travel on transition is assessed on a case-by-case basis in accordance with the EHCP as part of the future policy.

 

vi)           amend the criterion to match the statutory requirement, meaning that in future eligibility on catchment grounds would no longer apply as part of the future travel policy.

 

vii)          use its discretionary powers to extend the eligibility for travel assistance for secondary age pupils from low-income families to attend one of their three nearest suitable schools provided it is more than 2 miles but not more than 12 miles (an increase from 6 miles) from their home as part of the future travel policy.

 

3.6       Within the meetings of the Executive, Full Council meetings and during various Area Committee meetings, members of the public have made statements in relation to the proposed, and subsequently adopted, 2024 Home to School Travel Policy. Two petitions were received, the first, ‘Stop the Bus Cuts,’ was received on 26th April 2024 but this did not contain sufficient signatories to meet the threshold for debate at the Area Committee. The second, ‘Rethink North Yorkshire School Transport Cuts,’ was scheduled for debate at the Richmond (Yorks) Area Committee meeting on 27th January 2025 but a decision at that meeting deferred consideration of the petition to a subsequent meeting on 17th March 2025. The action requested by the petition was not taken, as an Extraordinary Meeting of Full Council had been called and agreed to by the Chair of Council to further consider the issue.

 

            COMMUNICATION

 

3.7       Communication on the proposed policy changes began with coverage in January 2024 and media interest has continued with media outlets continuing to give the Council’s Home to School Travel Policy prominence with numerous articles in Richmondshire Today, the Darlington and Stockton Times, BBC Radio York, the Stray Ferret, the Gazette and Herald,  BBC Look North, Hambleton Today, This is the Coast, the Craven Herald, the Yorkshire Post, the Northern Echo, ITV, Your Harrogate, Greatest Hits, That’s TV, the Harrogate Advertiser, The Times and the Scarborough News. Some of the articles refer to catchment, whilst others have focussed other topics relating to the policy change such as costs of transport and savings potential, route safety or the use of taxis.

 

3.8       As well as this, the Council has had a wide social media presence since its first post on 19th February 2024 following the commencement of the consultation period. This post alone received almost 2,000 clicks on Facebook and had a reach of almost 1,500 on Instagram, and almost 2,000 each on LinkedIn and X (formerly Twitter). Proactive social media activity continued and in August 2024 when the Council announced the policy had been agreed, the Council’s Facebook post received over 3,000 clicks. The council’s page continues to have a reach of over 20,000 people.

 

4.0       BACKGROUND – Catchment areas           

 

4.1       Catchment areas (also known as designated or priority areas) relate to admissions. Catchments are geographical areas from which children may be afforded priority for admission to a school. Other criteria for admissions include:

 

·         distance from the school,

·         siblings already at the school,

·         religion,

·         entrance exams,

·         feeder schools,

·         pupil premium or service premium, and

·         children of staff.

 

Admissions criteria are set by each admissions authority, (including local authorities, academy trusts and governing bodies of schools). Choosing to include a catchment area criterion does not guarantee admission to the school for children who live in the area, but it may increase their likelihood of being admitted to the school. As part of the admissions arrangements, catchment areas must be consulted upon, determined, and published. Catchment areas must be designed so that they are reasonable and clearly defined. Catchment areas do not prevent parents who live outside the catchment of a particular school from expressing a preference for the school.

 

4.2       In relation to primary schools, there are 295 schools in the county. Of these, 215 schools have their own discrete catchment. Of the 80 schools that do not have a discrete catchment, three are newly opened academies that have no designated catchment in their admissions arrangements. There are 19 denominational schools serving ‘the wider area’ without a defined catchment. Finally, there are 58 schools that share some or all their catchment area with one or more other schools - in part this is due to the treatment of catchment following a school closure.

 

What does this mean in practice? In some parts of the county, a primary pupil’s home address could fall within the catchment of up to five different primary schools. In other areas an address will have a single catchment school.

           

4.3       In relation to secondary schools, there are 41 secondary schools in the county. Of these, 18 have their own discrete catchment. Five schools ‘serve the wider area’ and have no defined catchment – four of these are denominational and one is the UTC. There are 18 secondary schools that have some or all shared catchment area, this includes overlap with catchments for secondary schools based in other local authority areas. Some addresses in the county do not sit in the catchment area for any North Yorkshire secondary school.

 

What does this mean in practice? In some parts of the county, one secondary pupil’s home address could fall within the catchment area of several secondary schools – including where more than one ‘catchment’ schools is in North Yorkshire, and also where one school is in North Yorkshire and the second is in another local authority area, whilst for another pupil, although their primary catchment school is in North Yorkshire, their home address sits only in the secondary catchment for a school in another local authority area.

           

4.4       The Council’s map showing catchment areas highlights this variation. This represents an inequality of choice for families. Finding a school | North Yorkshire Council

 

In North Yorkshire there is an inconsistent approach to the use of the catchment as a criterion within admissions policies. The Council’s 2024 Home to School Travel Policy addressed that inconsistency; one impact of the Motion that has been proposed would therefore be the reintroduction of an inequality where some home addresses benefit from being in communities with overlapping catchments whilst others do not.

 

4.5       Admissions authorities which include local authorities, academy trusts and individual schools do not have to set a catchment area criteria. In North Yorkshire, there are 233 mainstream primary and secondary schools with discrete catchment areas used to prioritise admissions for children who live in that area as part of their oversubscription criteria. However, there are 100 schools where this is not the case: there are 24 schools without a defined catchment and 76 where the part or all their catchment is shared with other schools, including some out of county schools.

 

Where the catchment area is not unique to a single school, the impact of the Motion that has been proposed would be that the Council could be responsible for providing travel assistance to schools in multiple directions from the same home address. Almost one third of mainstream schools and academies do not have a unique catchment area as part of their admissions criteria.

 

4.6       Parents have the right to state preferences for admission to a school, and this includes schools in or beyond the admissions catchment – where it exists – and schools within or outside of the local authority boundary. There are approximately 2,500 children that reside in the county but who attend schools in other local authority areas and about 5,000 children who attend schools in the county, but who reside in other areas. The provision for parental preference for admissions has remained the same as it did when the 2019 Home to School Travel Policy was in place. School census data shows that about 1 in 3 secondary children do not attend a ‘catchment area’ school and this figure is about 45% for primary children.

 

The council currently transports almost 900 children to schools out of North Yorkshire as they are eligible under one or more of the policy criteria. This includes around 600 children who attend their nearest suitable school with places available or their home address is within the catchment of the school – despite the school being out of county. The Motion that is being proposed may not change the number of children whose families choose schools in or out of county, however, the council could incur additional costs due to multiple eligibility criteria in cases where the catchment school is not the nearest school (regardless of whether this is in or out of county).

 

4.7       DfE does not use the term catchment in its ‘Travel to school for children of compulsory school age Statutory guidance for local authorities January 2024’. North Yorkshire Council is the admissions authority for community schools – this means the Council is responsible for setting the admissions policies and catchment areas for these schools. Voluntary aided schools, foundation schools, academies and free schools are responsible for setting their own admissions policies – and catchment areas – as they are their own admission authorities. Admissions authorities determine the catchment boundaries for the schools they are responsible for. This can include extending existing catchments into other admissions authorities’ catchment areas. Officers considered revision to the Council’s admissions policy at the same time as the Home to School Travel Policy to reduce some of the potential confusion between the two policies. However, if the Council amended its admissions policy, this would be effective over 149 schools and would not impact on 187 schools that have alternative admissions authorities.

 

The council is only responsible for the admissions (including catchment) policy relating to less than half of schools in the county. The 187 schools and academies that are their own admissions authorities, can decide to make changes to catchments including by extending across local authority areas. Other schools that are located close to the boundary could also choose to extend their catchment into North Yorkshire. The Motion that is being proposed would reintroduce a risk of additional uncontrollable costs to the Council should an admission authority for a school determine to extend its catchment.

 

5.0       BACKGROUND – Admissions cycle         

 

5.1       The admissions process follows an annual cycle and the Home to School Travel Policy is linked to the admissions cycle. The Home to School Travel Policy is determined by the end of July each year in readiness for the following admissions application window commencing in September. The normal admissions rounds are focussed toward the two national offer days in March (secondary) and April (primary) each year.

 

5.2       To support parents to make informed choices about admissions preferences during the application stage, a distance calculator tool is prominently available on various pages of the council’s website. The tool was used over 5,500 times during the recent admissions application windows.

 

5.3       After the admissions offers are made on each National Offer Day, and places are accepted by families, the Council undertakes a process to check eligibility for travel assistance under the Home to School Travel Policy. In the current admissions round 90% of secondary and 95% of primary families were allocated their first preference school and 96% (secondary) and 99% (primary) were offered one of their top three preferences.

 

5.3       Following the National Offer Days, eligibility checks for travel assistance are underway. Whilst incomplete at the point this report was written, the emerging picture for secondary admissions at the end of April 2025 showed:

·         approximately 3,400 secondary children are not eligible as they live under the statutory distances - equating to approx. 57%.

·         approximately 1,200 secondary children are eligible under the main criteria (nearest suitable school with places or extended rights/one of the nearest three with places) – equating to approx. 20%.

o   This includes approximately 230 families with extended rights, with approximately 50 families benefitting from the extra 6-12 miles discretionary eligibility.

·         approximately 1,200 secondary children are not eligible as they have preferenced and been allocated a school that is not their nearest school with places – equating to approx. 20%.

o   initial analysis indicates approximately 330 children in this group have preferenced and been allocated a catchment school (but this is not their nearest with places)

·         Approx 200 applications were still in process – equating to about 3%.

 

5.4       This data appears to support the assumptions in the modelling that was undertaken prior to the policy change. Eligibility has decreased across the county broadly in line with the initial estimations. Encouragingly, patterns of allocations for in-county secondary schools follow previous years, including three schools that are oversubscribed and have agreed to take numbers beyond their PAN and 18 schools that are oversubscribed and are holding waiting lists. Schools that raised concerns about the impact of the Home to School Travel Policy on their pupils numbers have not seen these materialise in the 2025 admissions round. Furthermore, in line with typical allocations, approximately 250 secondary children and 100 primary children residing in North Yorkshire have been offered places in schools that are located out of the county during the current admissions rounds, however we do not know how many of these are eligible for travel assistance.

 

5.5       It is not possible to comment further about the impact of this admissions cycle and eligibility for travel assistance on the forecasted savings. This is firstly because parents of primary and secondary starters need to be informed about eligibility and given the right of appeal. Alongside this, arrangements need to be made to allocate children onto existing transport and vary, terminate, or start new contract arrangements for the next academic year. Comparisons between contract costs will then be made. Finally, any remaining spare seats may result in permits being offered and bought. This activity will need to take place for both secondary and then primary admissions rounds. The scheduled Post Implementation Review (summer 2026) will afford an opportunity to explore the matters further when the impacts of the policy change over the course of an academic year can be comprehensively reviewed.

 

6.0       FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS

 

6.1       The Council has statutory duties to balance their budget whilst also delivering their statutory services. The Local Government Finance Act 1988 mandates that the Council must ensure         that their expenditure does not exceed their available resources. The Council must also          take into account the robustness of the estimates and the adequacy of the proposed           financial reserves. The impact of the proposed Motion, if agreed, could be deemed to be an unexpected expenditure this year, however, for future years would require to be a recurring                    expenditure and the Council would need to make alternative savings if they decide to grant                    this Motion and incur this expense for this discretionary service.

 

6.2       Members will be aware that, in recent years, there has been a significant financial pressure on the Home to School Transport Budget with spending rising from c.£20m in 2015-16 up to £49.6m in 2024-25 – more than doubling over a 10-year period. The Home to School Transport Budget for 2025-26 amounts to £52.5m - representing 8.2% of the council’s net budget.

 

6.3       The Budget for the financial year 2025-26 agreed by Full Council on 14 February 2025 included budgeted savings arising from the introduction of the updated Home to School Transport policy. The policy savings assumption for 2025-26 amounted to £343k - representing 0.65% of the Home to School Transport budget. As the policy will be phased in over a number of academic years as pupil cohorts move through each school phase, the implementation period and, therefore, the policy savings will accrue over seven years. The Medium-Term Financial Strategy (MTFS) includes estimated policy savings of £553k in 2026-27 and £545k in 2027-28. Within the current Budget and MTFS period there are, therefore, estimated savings linked with the implementation of the 2024 policy of £1,441k. As the MTFS only covers a three-year period, it currently does not reflect the total estimated savings of £3m. Compared with the 2025-26 budget, policy savings of £3m amount to 5.7% of the overall Home to School Transport budget. Financial planning assumptions will be updated informed by evidence from the implementation of the agreed policy. However, based on current assumptions, as the MTFS is updated and extended to include 2028-29, this is anticipated to bring in a further £540k savings in that year.

 

6.4       The Motion proposed represents a financial growth request compared to the Budget agreed by Full Council in February 2025. The 2025-26 Budget incorporated assumptions consistent with current Home to School Travel Policy. If the Motion is approved, the estimated £3m savings will no longer be achieved. Additionally, when the policy was agreed in July 2024, Full Council agreed additional discretionary spending to mitigate the impacts on secondary age pupils from low-income families through the provision of travel assistance for up to three schools across a greater distance. As the Motion does not alter this element of the policy, the financial implication is that additional estimated costs in addition to the net loss of savings must be accounted for.

 

6.5       If the Motion is approved, there will be an impact on the wider Council budget. The MTFS budget gap as stated in the report to Full Council on 14 February 2025 will widen from £34.4m to £35.9m (within the current MTFS period of 2025-26 through to 2027-28) and the Budget gap within the 2025-26 financial year will widen from £4.899m to £5.259m as indicated in the table below.

 

 

2025/26

£000

2026/27

£000

2027/28

£000

Current Cumulative Shortfall

-4,899

-17,852

-34,419

Revised Cumulative Shortfall (if Motion if agreed)

-5,259

-18,795

-35,937

Additional Gap from non-delivery of policy savings

-343

-896

-1,441

Estimated impact of additional discretionary spend

-17

-47

-77

 

 

 

 

Current Cumulative Use of Reserves

-4,899

-22,751

-57,170

Revised Cumulative Use of Reserves

-5,259

-24,054

-59,991

 

6.6       In order to fund the additional shortfall, and pending any future decisions on alternative savings, the financial planning assumption is that further use of reserves would be required. Additional funding from reserve totalling £360k would be required in the financial year 2025-26.

 

Over the current MTFS period, other things being equal, the use of reserves would increase by £2,821k if the proposed Motion is agreed.

 

6.7       If the Motion is agreed, there is a risk identified in section 7 of the report of additional challenges by parents who believe they could have benefitted from the suggested revised policy which was not in place when they made their admissions applications. The local authority has applied the 2019 Home to School Transport policy and the approved Home to School Travel 2024 policy in place at the time, and a further change in policy, if approved, would not negate the correct application of the prevailing policy. It is not possible to quantify the financial impact of any challenges, but this would be a financial risk resulting from the identified legal risk.

 

6.8       Although a more detailed assessment of the Council’s finances will be subject to other reports to Executive and Full Council in due course, it should be noted that the outcome of the Spending Review in June 2025, and subsequent financial settlement for local government, is expected to result in a significant deterioration in the council’s funding position. Delivery of previously agreed savings and identification of new savings proposals will be required to narrow the Budget gap and achieve a balanced budget position.

 

Whilst the Home to School Travel Policy approved by Full Council in July 2024 may deliver up to £4.2m savings, and has a budgeted assumption of £3m savings, approval of the Motion would negate any opportunity to deliver those savings.

 

7.0       LEGAL IMPLICATIONS

 

7.1       The Council has a statutory duty to provide sustainable travel to school under the Education                    Act 1996. The Council has statutory duties owed to provide free Home to School Travel               arrangements for eligible compulsory school aged pupils.

 

7.2       The legal definition of ‘compulsory school aged pupils’ means from the start of the first term         after a child’s fifth birthday until the last Friday in June in their year 11.

 

7.3       The legal definition of ‘eligible’ is defined in schedule 35B of the Education Act 1996. The       Council has a responsibility under Section 508B of the Education Act 1996 to make such             travel arrangements as they consider necessary to facilitate attendance at school for                        ‘eligible’ children.

 

7.4       Schedule 35B of the Education Act defines eligible children as those categories of                  children of compulsory school age (5-16) in an authority’s area for whom free travel                arrangements will be required. These are:

 

·         Statutory walking distances eligibility

To provide free travel arrangements for all pupils of compulsory school age (5-16) if their nearest suitable school is:

o        Beyond 2 miles (if below the age of 8 years); or

o        Beyond 3 miles (if aged between 8 years and 16 years)

 

·         Special educational needs, a disability or mobility problems eligibility

To make free travel arrangements for all children who cannot reasonably be expected to walk to school because of their mobility problems or because of associated health and safety issues related to their special educational needs (SEN) or disability. Eligibility, for such children should be assessed on an individual basis to identify their particular travel requirements of each child.

 

·         Unsafe route eligibility

To make free travel arrangements for all children who cannot reasonably be expected to walk to nearest suitable school because the nature of the route is deemed unsafe to walk.

 

·         Extended rights eligibility

To provide free travel arrangements where pupils are entitled to free school meals, or their parents are in receipt of maximum Working Tax Credit if:

o        The nearest suitable school is beyond 2 miles (for children over the age of 8 and under 11 years of age);

o        The school is between 2 and 6 miles (if aged 11-16 and there are not three or more suitable nearer schools);

o        The school is between 2 and 15 miles and is the nearest school preferred on the grounds of religion or belief (aged 11-16)

 

7.5       The Council therefore has an absolute duty to provide for those eligible pupil’s free home to             school travel arrangements.

 

7.6       The Council has a power to provide ‘discretionary’ home to travel arrangements for non-  eligible pupils pursuant to section 508C of the Education Act 1996. These travel                            arrangements are not required to be free, and the Council can charge for these services.       The Council has for several years operated many discretionary elements to the Home to                     School travel policy. As a result of the Department for Education Home to School Travel                Policy review and the issuing of new statutory guidance, the Council with their budget                     constraints decided to remove some elements of discretionary services. This included the       removal of catchment as a discretionary element for eligibility for Home to School Travel. The   2024 policy includes some discretionary elements, including the phased implementation of       the 2024 policy. The Council therefore currently operates the 2019 policy for those who             applied for a school place prior to September 2024 under that Home to School Travel Policy        and the 2024 policy for those who applied for a school place after September 2024 under       that policy.

 

7.7       Within the home to school transport legal framework there is no mention of ‘catchment’ and             therefore catchment is not a statutory requirement to be considered for a home to school             transport policy. However, the Council must abide by the admissions legal framework which        does include ‘catchment’ as one of the considerations that the admission authority uses to                    consider whether a pupil has    priority over other pupils for a school admission place.

 

7.8       With regard to the wording of the Motion, there is no legal definition of ‘the end of the       admissions round’. However, the regulations and admissions code define ‘normal admission round,’ ‘late admission round,’ and ‘in year admission application.’ A late application is made before the first day of school of the admission year but for which a determination is not made by the admission authority on or before the offer date. It is assumed this means 11 September before the admission round opens on 12 September for the next academic year.

 

7.9       If the Motion is accepted, the council can implement the amended 2025 policy and can deal        with this new Home to school travel policy for future school admissions. However, this could    create a new inequity for those parents who followed the 2024 policy when making a choice      for their admissions for their child’s school place to commence in September 2025. Some         parents may have not selected their ‘catchment’ school in the admissions round on the basis that they would not be eligible for transport and may not be  able to apply for a place at that school if the travel policy were to be changed. Council will have to pay due regard to the equality duties. The legal process is that the policy needs to be published by 31 July prior to the admission round opening on 12 September so that parents make an informed decision when applying for school place. The legal risk is that the Motion is worded to retrospectively apply from September 2024. This could lead to additional challenges by parents who could have benefitted from the suggested revised policy which was not in place when they made their decisions.

 

 

8.0       OPERATIONAL IMPLICATIONS

 

8.1       This risk for a potential change of the main criterion were set out in the 16th July report to the Executive Committee in section 11.5. This includes time taken for a policy change to be understood. To mitigate against any confusion should the Motion be agreed, the Council will need to have effective systems and processes in place to communicate a revised policy position very clearly to parents in the next admissions rounds given the proactive, extensive coverage of the 2024 policy. This is particularly the case where the impact of another policy change could be exacerbated for families with more than one child where there could be different eligibility criteria to consider across three consecutive years.

 

8.2       The Council is currently in the process of assessing and confirming eligibility for the c.6000 secondary applications and similarly around 5000 primary school applications. Officers are currently at the stage of informing families about eligibility for September. Should any re-assessment be required, and additional correspondence provided to families, this is likely to incur additional costs. Information about the appeals procedure is included in the eligibility letters and families of non-eligible children will be able to exercise their right of appeal as soon as their eligibility has been confirmed, the Council set a deadline of the end of May for this confirmation for secondary children and end of June for primary.

 

8.3       The commissioning of transport may not be finalised until eligibility checks and appeals have been completed. The sale of spare seats cannot be completed until transport provision is in place for eligible children. Delays to this process could have an impact on practical arrangements for eligible and non-eligible new starters in September this year.

 

8.4       The Motion refers to ‘pre-agreed criteria put in place for settling appeals for pupils impacted since 1st September 2024’. Details in section E of the Home to School Travel Policy, contain the procedures and criteria in place for managing transport appeals. Should any amendment to the appeal criteria or arrangements be required, it is assumed that proposals be explored and worked through the decision-making process, potentially including Overview and Scrutiny, Executive and Full Council as necessary. It is likely that additional meeting time would need to be scheduled into the calendar to support this, and consideration given to the window of time when most appeals take place.

 

8.5       Any change to the policy would need to be agreed by July for adoption as part of the September 2025 composite prospectus. Admissions arrangements from September 2025 typically apply to entry in September 2026, except for in-year applications.

 

9.0       CONCLUSIONS

 

9.1       An amendment to the policy as set out in the Motion would:

i)      reintroduce inequalities that were removed in the 2024 policy change,

ii)     remove the savings potential arising from the 2024 policy and increase the need for use of reserves,

iii)   create higher costs than the 2019 policy due to additional discretionary elements to support low-income families added in July 2024,

iv)   not be based on a consultation for the revision, nor a full review of the 2024 policy impacts,

v)    cause confusion for current and future admissions rounds applicants,

vi)   bring the opportunity for challenge from some of the 11,000 applicants this year,

vii)  cause delays to the cost-effective planning of transport provision for September 2025

 

APPENDICES:

 

Appendix A – link to 16 July 2024 Executive (Public Pack)Agenda Document for Executive, 16/07/2024 11:00

 

 

 

Sir Stuart Carlton, Corporate Director – Children & Young People’s Service

County Hall

Northallerton

12 May 2025

 

Report Author – Amanda Fielding, Assistant Director, Inclusion      

Presenter of Report – Amanda Fielding, Assistant Director, Inclusion                    

 

 

Note: Members are invited to contact the author in advance of the meeting with any detailed queries or questions.