Proposals by Neath Port Talbot Council to increase charges for school transport could see some children and young people having to change schools if their families can’t afford the price hike, a senior officer has said.
The draft home-to-school policy includes plans to charge an extra £130 for both primary and secondary school pupils and an extra £65 for nursery children if they already pay for a spare seat on a bus.
Meanwhile post-16 students would have to pay an extra £290 more per year for transport.
The council says the changes will bring fees for all ages in line with each other at £390 per year.
The spare seat scheme is in place for pupils who don’t qualify for free school transport.
Travel can only be awarded where there are spare seats on school buses operating for students who qualify for statutory transport.
The council provides free home-to-school travel for those pupils who are eligible under statutory requirements.
Officers said the increase in cost would bring the charge in line with neighbouring local authorities.
The council currently spends more than £6m on home to school transport.
Under the new policy, the council will continue to provide free non-statutory travel to those pupils attending either their nearest Welsh-medium school or their nearest faith school if they meet the distance criteria.
Head of participation Chris Millis told councillors at a recent meeting where the draft policy was discussed that parents would be entitled to appeal should they wish.
But he warned: “If they feel the charge is beyond them and they’re attending a school where they need to purchase a spare seat they may need to consider whether they are attending the right school or not.
“It is £1 a journey, £2 a day, and they can pay per term rather than all at once.”
He added: “The new draft policy updates the one in 2017 when we made a commitment to update it every three years.
“We’ve tried to make it easier for families to understand whether they’re eligible or not.
“We have had about 40 appeals over the last three years.
“It has shown us what families get confused over – some think they should have a taxi even though they live 200m from the school.”
The new draft policy also includes changes for children who live at more than one address, for example if their parents are separated.
The council says it will still consider the two home addresses but only travel assistance to the nearest suitable school will be offered when considering either address provided the distance criteria is met.
It adds there will be no absolute entitlement from multiple addresses.
Furthermore, if a family has moved away from the family home closer to another school but the pupil remains at the local school no travel assistance will be offered.
The proposed new policy also impacts on post-16 young people with additional learning needs/special education needs.
It states that young people who have previously held a statement of educational needs and attended a specialist provision but then don’t transfer to a post-16 specialist provision will no longer be eligible for home-to-school travel assistance.
A public consultation on the proposals runs for eight weeks from Monday, June 10, to Sunday, August 4.
If it is then approved by councillors the changes will take place in September 2020.
