Decision details

The agreed contribution charge for post 16 home to school transport, to declare on the Post 16 Policy statement.

That the contribution rate for post-16 home to school transport be increased by 5.24% in line with inflation to £650

To continue to implement the previously agreed policy change of incrementally increasing spare seat charges to that of post 16 by applying a £50 increase for 2022/23, and extend the policy change implementation by one year to 2023/2024.

To continue to support the 50% reduction for families with a low income.

For Students over the statutory school age (end of Year 11.) The local authority can use discretionary powers to facilitate transport assistance; these arrangements do not have to be provided free of charge as is the case with eligible statutory pupils. The charging arrangements are not intended to fully cover the cost of service delivery for the eligible young people, but to make a contribution towards the overall cost of transport.

In 2019, following four years of no increases, it was agreed to increase the contribution rate from £495 to £600 in line with other county councils at that time. This increase was endorsed by Overview and Scrutiny in June 2019, and was implemented for the 2020-2021 academic year, with recommendation that yearly gradual increases are adopted.

Following the home to school transport policy review in 2018 it was agreed that the spare seat charging rate, for non-entitled statutory aged pupils, would also increase gradually to the same rate as the post 16-contribution charge. This has been increasing for three years with the expectation that a single rate would be achieved for the 2022/23 academic year.

The following option was rejected:

To continue to implement the previously agreed policy change of incrementally increasing spare seat charges to that of post 16 by applying a £100 increase for 2022/23 maintaining the previously agreed full policy implementation date of 2022/23