A working group of elected members and officers is set to review Warwickshire’s home-to-school transport service.
At its meeting on Thursday 16 March, Warwickshire’s Cabinet voted unanimously to create a member working group to look specifically at the County’s home-to-school transport offer.
Home-to-school transport is available to Warwickshire parents under a specific set of circumstances. To qualify for help with transport, residents must meet the following criteria:
- They must be a resident in Warwickshire; and
- Their child must be attending the nearest qualifying school to their home - this is the closest school to their home address by the shortest available walking route or their priority / catchment school.
The walking distance (using the shortest walking route) from their home to the nearest qualifying school must be:
- Over two miles for children under the age of eight years; or
- Over three miles for children aged eight to 16
The 2023/24 budget included the investment of an additional £8.2m in home-to-school transport over the next year, to meet the increasing demand and cost of the service, which has been particularly impacted by inflation.
The investment brings the total budget for home-to-school transport in 2023/24 to £30.1m. The remaining four years of the Medium-Term Financial Strategy (MTFS) includes indicative additional investment of another £5.7m and the delivery of £2.2m savings in service running costs.
The pressure on home-to-school transport has increased due to housing development in the county which adds to the in-year placement totals. This can result in an increased number of pupils who cannot be accommodated at their nearest school and may need to be transported to the next nearest school with places, if this is beyond the statutory walking distance.
This possible increased demand for home-to-school transport, therefore, creates a real longer-term financial risk requiring monitoring and mitigation. The 2023/24 budget resolution therefore agreed to set up a Member Working Group to enhance focus on the demand and cost management of home-to-school transport and the delivery of the budget reductions included in the 2023/24 budget resolution.
The Working Group is expected to make its written recommendations to Cabinet in Autumn 2023.
Mark Ryder, Strategic Director for Communities said, “We are proud of our home-to-school transport service in Warwickshire which enables thousands of children to travel safely to school on a daily basis. The service enables us to accommodate an ever-increasing number of pupils in Warwickshire schools. The work of this Member Working Group will be invaluable in driving improvement and ensuring a sustainable service in future years.”
The Cabinet paper for this item can be found here: https://democracy.warwickshire.gov.uk/documents/s29774/cabinet%20report%20-%20assisted%20transport%20WG.pdf
Find out more about home-to-school transport here: https://www.warwickshire.gov.uk/transporthelpunder16