Home to school transport consultation

Public consultation on proposed changes to Salford's home to school transport policy.

Salford City Council is facing very large reductions to government grants over the next few years and needs to make considerable savings in order to meet target savings. The total cost of home to school transport provision in Salford is currently £3.57 million. It is with regret that, in this time of great financial pressure, we believe we have to review our current home to school travel arrangements to help us achieve budget savings.

It is important to the council that as many people as possible take part in the consultation process. It is hoped that, by listening to the comments, suggestions and concerns raised, we can ensure the new home to school transport policy is designed in a way that enables us to continue to meet our statutory responsibilities in a more cost-effective way.

The proposal for consultation is to make the following changes to the current policy:

• The removal of discretionary transport assistance from 1 September 2013
• The introduction of a comprehensive application process for travel assistance for Special Educational Needs (SEN) pupils from 1 September 2012

The consultation ran from 9 January 2012 to 24 February 2012 (it was extended from 17 February).

Current council policy

You can download a copy of the home to school transport policy 2005 below.

Under the current "Home to school transport policy September 2005", as well as meeting its legal duty, the council provides extra, discretionary, support to the following pupil groups:

• Pupils in years 6, 10 and 11 who continue to attend the same school following a change of address, but remain within the Salford boundary and meet the age/distance criteria.
• Pupils attending primary schools with a particular church affiliation and the distance from home to the nearest available school meets the distance criteria.
• Pupils attending secondary schools with a particular church affiliation and attended a similar primary school and the distance from home to the nearest available appropriate school falls within the distance criteria above.
• Pupils placed with foster carers.
• Pupils attending dual placements and require transport during the school day.

Proposed council policy 2011

You can download a copy of the draft home to school transport 2011 policy below. 

• From 1 September 2013, the council will cease to provide discretionary transport assistance. The council will still continue to provide transport assistance to those pupils who are eligible under statutory requirements. These pupil groups are outlined in the 2011 policy.
• An application procedure is to be introduced for the assessment of the circumstances for each pupil with a statement of SEN in order to decide on the appropriate level of travel assistance required. It is proposed the application procedure be implemented in the summer term 2012, for travel arrangements to be in place for 1 September 2012. You can download a copy of the draft application form below.

This page was last updated on 13 March 2012