Charges for discretionary school and college transport

Councillors are being asked to approve a consultation on proposals to save up to £300,000 a year by bringing transport for college students and a small percentage of school pupils in line with other councils across the country.

At present, the school transport budget continues to overspend by £400,000 per year.  Shropshire Council is doing everything possible to mitigate the effects of Government spending cuts to help students get to school and college – and Shropshire was the second highest in a list of 55 unitary authorities for the amount spent on home to school transport in 2009/10.

The council provides free transport from home to primary, secondary and special schools for more than 8,000 pupils.

A small number of parents (less than 150 pupils) choose to pay for concessionary school transport because their chosen school is not in their catchment area.  And 900 entitled post-16 college students also have to make a financial contribution towards their bus tickets.

At the Cabinet meeting on Wednesday 15 June, Councillors will look at plans to consult on more realistic charges for these two concessionary schemes (involving around 1,000 pupils and students) to levels nearer to other councils. The schemes are:

• The Temporary Seats Payment Scheme (TSPS) under which fewer than 150 school pupils aged five to 16, who are not entitled to free transport, travel to school. The majority of these pupils are transported to a school chosen by their parents that is not their nearest or catchment area school. The current scheme allows parents to pay a subsidised fare to use a school bus service that has spare capacity to transport their children.
• The post-16 assisted transport scheme for college and sixth form students, where currently 900 entitled students, or their parents, make a financial contribution to their bus ticket through this scheme.

Figures for 2010/11 show that Shropshire Council TSPS charges are among the lowest in the country. For the post-16 scheme, the council currently charges less than neighbouring councils, and is substantially below the national average.

The paper to Cabinet outlines how many councils are expected to significantly increase charges even more. Charges are also expected to rise across the country for the TSPS scheme in 2011/12.

The proposals should not have an adverse impact on vulnerable groups, including pupils or students with statements of special educational needs, and those whose families are in receipt of certain benefits.

The current average cost to the council of a TSPS seat on a school bus is £1,188 a year. The average cost of a bus ticket to the council for post-16 students is £662 a year, with a lowest ticket cost of £300 and a highest of £1,200 dependant on the route and Operator.

Cabinet will be asked to agree to consult on:

• Increasing the TSPS charge from 73p per journey (£279 per year) to £1.23 per journey (£468 per year) where pupils do not travel to their nearest/catchment school.
• Maintaining the 73p per journey (£279 per year) charge for the TSPS scheme, where pupils travel to their nearest/catchment school but are not entitled to free transport for reasons such as living within walking distance.
• Increasing the post-16 parental/student transport contribution charge from 92p per journey (£330 per year) to £1.17 per journey (£420 per year).
• Requiring an annual £30 administrative charge for each successful TSPS/post-16 application to cover the costs of processing and ticket production.

If agreed by Cabinet a six week consultation period would be carried out and the new changes would come into effect from September 2012.

Councillor Aggie Caesar-Homden, Cabinet member for children and young people’s services, said: “We were among the country’s unitary authorities that spent the most on home to school transport in 2009/10 and have some of the lowest charges for our discretionary schemes.  As a parent myself, I appreciate the challenges of getting teenagers to college, and we are doing everything we can to encourage youngsters to learn.

“But we have to look at the best possible use of our resources as we review everything we do in the light of Government cuts.  These proposals will only affect a small percentage of school pupils and students, and even if the increases are implemented the charges will still be on a par or cheaper than many other areas.

“Other initiatives in other areas of the school transport budget, such as network efficiency programmes and procurement initiatives, saved over £400,000 last year, and these proposals could save another £275,000.”

You can view the Cabinet report by clicking here.