Members to decide on plans for mainstream Home to School Transport consultation
Monday, 24 March 2025
At a meeting on 1 April, Members of our Executive will be asked to approve plans to consult on a proposed change to the Council’s Home to School Transport policy for students aged 5 to 16.
If approved, we will launch a nine-week consultation to hear a range of views on the proposed change to the policy of providing transport to the nearest school.
Currently, if a child doesn’t have an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) or has been placed at a specific school by us, they may qualify for transport to either their nearest suitable school or one based on school catchment areas.
Different schools have different catchment areas; we also have our own catchment areas. We are proposing removing the ‘catchment school’ rule, only providing Home to School Transport to a child’s nearest school. This would align with Department of Education guidance and help us save money at a time when it faces substantial pressures on its budget.
Parents would still have a choice of school. The difference would be that if a parent chooses to send their child to a school that is not their nearest, then they would not be eligible for free school transport. Hundreds of children are currently taken past a school to get them to a different one each day; this change in policy would also help the us remove vehicles from the road and reduce emissions.
The proposed change would honour existing students that receive mainstream Home to School transport to their current catchment schools, and the revised policy would only apply to new mainstream transport applications. The specific change detailed in the consultation would not apply to pupils with an EHCP or those placed at a school by the Council. Post 16 transport is also exempt, as it remains a separate transport policy.
Councillor Steve Owen, Executive Member for Children’s Services, said:
Councillors initially rejected this proposed change to the Home to School Transport policy in September 2024, as we felt more work needed to be done to assess the potential impact. Further analysis has now been undertaken and, with the cost of school transport will continue to rise - from £9million to £19million – we do need to consider potential savings for our Home to School Transport service, which is over and above what we are required to provide by law. This change will bring the Council into line with the great majority of Councils in the country.
Every day we transport around 6,500 children to and from school across Central Bedfordshire, on around 800 routes.