Spend to Save School Minibus Scheme

Minibus scheme enabling schools to provide Home to School Transport solutions for students

Overview of the scheme

Spend to Save is a school minibus scheme offering brand new leased minibuses supplied by Hampshire Transport Management and funded by Hampshire County Council.

Schools operate Home to School Transport for those students identified by Hampshire County Council. In return they receive a fully funded and maintained minibus to use for other activities such as offsite curriculum visits, sporting events and other excursions.

Eligibility

The scheme can be offered, providing there is a financial case, to Hampshire County Council schools, academies and post-16 providers with courses for SEN students where sufficient numbers of Hampshire students are eligible for Home to School Transport.

What is provided

The following is included in the lease charge, paid for by Hampshire County Council and provided by Hampshire Transport Management:

• Planned vehicle maintenance

• Breakdown cover
• MOT
• Tax
• Servicing
• Vehicle safety checks and an annual passenger lift inspection for accessible vehicles
• Insurance is also included for Hampshire County Council schools (academies and post-16 providers with courses for SEN students need to provide their own)

In addition to paying the lease charge, Hampshire County Council will also offer schools funding to contribute towards the cost of:

• Driver hours
• Fuel (for the Home to School Transport element)
• One off funding for driver licensing (D1) and MiDAS training
• Contract management (to contribute towards the cost of staff time to manage and operate the service)

Benefits of the scheme

• A fully funded and maintained vehicle
• Vehicle livery offering schools/colleges a presence in the community
• Regular contact with parents
• Funding to operate Home to School Transport
• Savings for the County Council’s Home to School Transport budget

School's responsibilities

Schools are responsible for the following:

• To provide Home to School Transport every day for the students identified by Hampshire County Council
• Driver recruitment (this includes a back-up in instances of sick and annual leave)
• Ensure all drivers have the correct licence (D1)
• Ensure all drivers are MiDAS trained
• Obtain DBS checks for any driver(s)
• Obtain a S19 permit per vehicle

Passenger Transport are able to offer advice and support for most of the subjects listed above, however you can also find a range of factsheets here on most of the topics.

 

School Testimonials

Useful taking groups of children to nearby educational events in school time...Having the freedom to transport small groups at short notice is very advantageous. The minibus is in good repair and is serviced and safety checked frequently. We will be obtaining a new one soon, this gives us confidence in the scheme.

Once the scheme was operational the running of the scheme has been very smooth. The minibus has given the school a huge amount of flexibility in transporting children to school, and has given the school more of a presence in the local community. It has improved contact with the parents and the school too, as they are able to see a school employee daily...It has allowed us to transport children to and from school and has allowed the school to have face to face contact with parents which was not possible before.

We have a minibus on site to use as when we need. This means we can attend more sporting events and transport the children to other events that might otherwise have proved to be too expensive... Having our own minibus has benefited the school.

Has provided an additional minibus to the Fleet and allowed the late bus scheme to be operated by the school with cost savings.

We contacted Spend to Save in June and had the minibus/route in place for the start of September, really efficient service!

Operating a minibus

To assist with scheme compliance visit the Hampshire Transport Management website for relevant resources including the Driver’s Daily Vehicle Check and Defect Report form, an Operator Journey Log – Template, as well as information on MiDAS training and Section 19 permits.

Information on Workplace Transport Planning and Risk Assessments guidance can be accessed via Schools Portal: School’s Health & Safety Website (select ‘Services’ to access the catalogue of services including H&S resource).

Contact details

For more information, please contact Passenger Transport on:

[email protected]  / 01962 846785