Councillors to explore solutions to rising school transport costs

Alec Doyle, Local Democracy Reporter

Rising demand for school transport has forced a council to increase funding for 2025/26 by just over £2 million.

A new report has also found that 76% of pupils transported less than three miles to mainstream secondary schools using school transport and 52% of primary school children transported less than two miles do so because their routes to school are deemed too hazardous to walk.

This week councillors on Wrexham County Borough Council’s Lifelong Learning Scrutiny Committee will consider a report on growing school transport costs to explore whether it can find a way to control them while maintaining the service.

Hazardous route

According to the report: “Hazardous route assessments are ongoing.

“One route had been dismissed as an opportunity given the likely high cost of ensuring the route is suitable due to issues with visibility and a lack of street lighting. However officers will now re-visit this initial assessment with sight of the latest version of the Learner Travel Measure Guidance, which is presently out for consultation.

“Another route has been assessed as an active travel walking route and estimated cost of improvements at an initial design stage is £2.4m.”

Last year the authority’s spending on school transport was £8,948,302 – a £2,031,786 overspend. This year it has increased the school transport budget by £2,026,515 to £8,942,941.

Since 2018 the cost of school transport in Wrexham has almost doubled from £4.67m to £8.95m.

This factors in increased demand for pupils with additional learning needs (ALN) to get to specialist schools, increases in travel escorts  and other specialist provision like students going to Pupil Referral Units.

Between 22/23 and 24/25 the number of ALN  pupils needing transport to out of county placements more than doubled. The number of pupils in PRUs almost doubled in the same period, while the number of pupils classed as having special needs went up by 27%.

Overall during that period there was a 9.6% increase in pupils using school transport.

Personal travel budgets

One option on the table for councillors is a move to providing personal travel budgets (PTBs) for pupils with additional needs. This would give parents the flexibility to shop around for more cost-effective transport options and pool resources where possible.

The report estimates PTBs could save the authority between £200,000 and £600,000 per year.

Officers are also monitoring whether external factors, such as Coleg Cambria ending free transport for students in September this year, will increase costs further.

At Wednesday’s meeting councillors will consider the value of investing in hazardous routes to make them safe for pupils to use as well as looking at more radical ways to control costs such as bringing more school transport in-house – a move which could save the council an estimated £50,000 per year.