A Cumbrian council said it was reviewing the free school transport it offered to pupils as its budgets are under increasing pressure.
Westmorland & Furness Council estimated that its total spend on transport for 2025/2026 would be £19,600,068.
It has launched a public consultation about the transport it provides on a discretionary basis – above that which it must provide by law.
The consultation runs until April 21.
It currently supports 3,570 mainstream pupils and 559 pupils with special educational needs and disabilities daily to attend their place of education.
It said 3,221 pupils access free home to school transport and 349 students buy a spare seat.
514 transport routes are either commissioned through external transport providers, or provided in-house and where appropriate, the council buys
train and bus passes for eligible students on public transport.
Transport is currently provided to 117 educational establishments and the majority are secondary schools, primarily serving rural communities.
There are legacy arrangements relating to schools with no sixth form where contracted routes are extended to facilitate travel for pupils to schools with a sixth form – Samuel Kings in Alston, Settlebeck in Sedbergh and John Ruskin in Coniston.
For pupils with special educational needs and disabilities, transport serves a wide geographical area, and in some cases with significant travel time.
Proposed changes
- No automatic entitlement for transport for Reception aged children and any provision for four-year-olds would be discretionary and subject to a spare seat charge.
- Travel assistance for eligible children to nearest suitable school only.
- Post-16 SEND travel assistance would be means tested, instead of free as it is now.
- Spare seat scheme to stay in place – but only when there are genuinely spare seats and at discretion of the local authority where there is no financial detriment. The council said spare seats do not cover the full cost of them and ‘significant administration time’ was spent managing the scheme.
The changes also include clarifications of policy wording around statutory walking distances at age eight, entitlement to home to school travel assistance, passenger assistants and nursery transport.
The authority said any agreed changes to policy would apply to new admissions and/or transport applications received on or after September 19 this year and would affect new entrants to schools – Reception and Year 7 – with effect from September 2027.
Proposed changes to transport support, including the introduction of charging young people eligible for support with SEND transport would apply to those commencing their Post 16 education in Year 12 from September 1 2027.
Any pupil currently receiving home‑to‑school transport under the existing eligibility criteria will continue to do so, the council said.
Westmorland & Furness Council said: “Like councils across the country, Westmorland and Furness Council spends an increasingly significant amount of its core budget on home to school transport support.
“The council does not receive any ring-fenced funding from central government for home to school transport expenditure.
“We have seen this area of spend increase over recent years, particularly for special educational needs and disabilities transport and this demand is anticipated to
continue increasing.”
Mil Vasic, director of children’s services, said: “We want to reassure parents and carers that no‑one will lose what they currently receive in terms of home‑to‑school transport.
“The proposals would apply only to new Reception, Year 7 intakes and pupils eligible for SEND Post-16 transport from 2027.
“However, with rising transport costs, we have a duty to consider how we can deliver the service more sustainably in the future.
“These proposals aim to support a fair and economical approach to providing free travel to a child’s nearest school.
“This review does not affect where your child goes to school – that remains your preference – but it does consider their eligibility for funded transport.”
To take part in the consultation, visit https://www.westmorlandandfurness.gov.uk/your-council/have-your-say/ongoing-consultations/home-school-transport-policy-changes-consultation
