Decision to be made on proposed changes to School and Post-16 Transport Policies

At her upcoming Decision Day on Tuesday, 24 February, Councillor Roz Chadd, Cabinet Lead Member for Children’s Services, will review feedback from those consultations before deciding whether to approve the proposed policy changes.  

The policies cover transport for children of compulsory school age who meet national eligibility criteria, and a Post-16 service for young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) travelling to further education or training. The School Transport service is required by law while the Post-16 service is chargeable and offered on a discretionary basis. 

Most of the County Council’s proposed changes to the two policies are designed to make them easier to understand and to provide greater clarity around the way both services are delivered. Alongside these basic changes to policy wording, the County Council is also proposing to withdraw the formal offer of a Spare Capacity Seats Scheme in its School Transport Policy. This is a discretionary scheme which allows spare seats on contracted vehicles to be offered on a temporary, chargeable basis to children who are not eligible for free School Transport. The scheme is not offered as part of the Post-16 Transport service.  

The current offer of a Spare Capacity Seats Scheme creates an expectation that spare seats can be provided. However, this cannot be fulfilled if the available seats on a given vehicle are all in use by eligible children. Once allocated, spare seats may later be withdrawn if needed for an eligible child, or if the number of spare seats reduces due to an operational change. There is therefore a lack of clarity for parents on whether spare seats can be made available. 

Following separate changes agreed by Cabinet last summer, the County Council is now working to further maximise the use of vehicles to prioritise eligible children, making the availability of spare seats even less likely. 

Should the changes be agreed, including general proposals to simplify policy wording, both policies would then be updated during the current term. The Spare Capacity Seats Scheme would immediately close to new applicants but remain in place until the end of the current academic year for the small number of existing users which, as of December 2025, was just nine children. The County Council may still allocate spare seats to non-eligible children in exceptional circumstances and at its discretion.  

Regardless of any decisions, the authority will continue to meet its legal duties relating to School Transport. 

Visit the County Council’s website for more information about the proposed changes to the School Transport and Post-16 Transport Policies.