Agenda item

Councillor Branson, Chair of the Place Scrutiny Panel, presented the Final Report on Home to School Transport.   

The purpose of the review was to ensure that the Council was meeting its obligations to provide Home to School Transport whilst effectively controlling costs.  

The Terms of Reference for the review were set out at paragraph three of the report together with the evidence gathered by the Panel during the review.

The Panel’s conclusions, based on the evidence gathered during the review, were detailed at page 59 of the agenda pack, paragraph 74 of the final report.  In summary, the Panel found that in recent years there had been a sharp increase in the cost of Home to School Transport provided by Local Authorities, by up to 50% in some cases. Middlesbrough Council’s 2024-2025 budget for providing the Home to School Transport Service was £6.7m. Free school transport was provided for students at compulsory school age based on distance from a suitable school, ability to get there safely, or on low family income.

Middlesbrough Council had provided free transport for 1069 SEND students and 238 other students in the previous year. The key issue was SEND students under the age of 11 since they were provided with free transport in almost all cases. Middlesbrough also had higher numbers of SEND students than other LAs in the North East region and nationally according to the Local Authority Interactive Tool (LAIT). 

During the course of discussion, the following issues were raised:-

• It was a complex area with costs having doubled since 2019 and expected to grow significantly further.
• One of the main problems was that Local authorities were reluctant to challenge parents.
• The cost of transport had also increased.
• Some schools had contacted the Task and Finish Group associated with the review expressing their dissatisfaction at the lack of passenger assistance.
• In terms of self-diagnosis the service relied on doctors but there had, nevertheless, been an increase in SEND children nationally.

The Board was asked to consider the Scrutiny Panel’s recommendations (page 38, paragraph 232, of the report), as follows:-

a)     Investigate whether it would be cost effective to devolve the provision of Home to School Transport to individual schools, as they may be able to provide a more localised service. Ideally the funding could be passed directly to the schools making them responsible for controlling costs, ensuring there was no additional cost to the Local Authority.

b)     Review the eligibility requirements for free school travel, especially for post-16 students and for pupils who attend a school that is not in the catchment/nearest school by parental choice, but they meet the low-income criteria. There would need to be an option included for consideration of special circumstances.

c)     Ensure closer collaboration between Children’s Services, Schools and the Home to School Transport Unit to make certain that the most cost-effective and suitable transport arrangements are in place for each student, particularly in relation to students with SEND. The requirement for transport assistance should be included as a consideration in SEND assessments.

d)     Prioritise the promotion of independent travel to all parents and students, increase the number of travel trainers and bus buddies and encourage greater use of personal travel budgets.

e)     Introduce a spare seat scheme to offer discretionary transport assistance on existing transport for students who are not eligible for free travel assistance, with an option for part payment of the full cost.

f)       Investigate whether increasing the Council’s fleet of vehicles and reducing dependency on third party providers would be cost effective and whether this would enable better route planning.

g)     Explore whether entering into longer-term contracts with third party providers would provide for greater flexibility and consistency.

ORDERED that the conclusions and recommendations, as set out above, be endorsed and referred to the Executive.