North Yorkshire Council is re-assessing its £54m a year home-to-school transport scheme after a review found flaws in how it works.
The school transport scheme for North Yorkshire was revised in 2024 and, after a full year, a review was held into how well it has worked since the changes.
It found there has been “unintended consequences which do not result in a logical outcome for effective pupil transport, for families or for the council” in some cases.
More than 700 reception and Year 7 pupils (141 reception and 600 year 7) were not eligible for transport under the new 2024 policy who would have been eligible under the previous one, according to the report.
Locally, the changes have particularly affected families living in Hinderwell, Mickleby and parts of the Esk Valley. Scarborough and Whitby MP, Alison Hume has previously said her inbox was full with complaints and concerns from families who were now having to split siblings up due to the new rules.
Within the past three academic years the council has been hit with 716 stage one appeals and 174 stage two appeals, with 20 appeal decisions having been submitted to the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman.
The review also made 24 recommendations including improvements to policy wording, mapping processes, appeals, communications and operational arrangements.
Seven of the proposed changes will be discussed at a full council meeting in November and today, a consultation was opened asking parents, carers, schools and other stakeholders their views on these seven recommendations.
They include plans to update the policy to allow greater discretion for routes used to a child’s nearest school, whether discretionary measures should be considered where two schools share the same drop-off point for council-run transport, allowing routes to be removed from a mapping system if deemed unreasonable for a pupil or vehicle to use them, and also making information clearer about how home to school distances are measured.
The consultation will also focus on five routes, in particularly remote areas of the Yorkshire Dales, which the review recommends removing from the mapping system as they can be affected by severe weather or impractical driving conditions.However, other routes identified through the consultation will also be considered for removal from the mapping system if they are assessed as unsuitable.
The review’s remaining 17 recommendations were discussed by the council’s executive on Friday with ten recommendations being approved by councillors. The other seven were noted by councillors as they related to measures already in place in the current policy.
North Yorkshire Council’s executive member for education, learning and skills, Coun Annabel Wilkinson, said: “When the policy changed, we promised to review how it was working in practice and to listen to the experiences of families.
“That is exactly what we have done, and this consultation is giving people the chance to give their views of some of the key recommendations.
“We would encourage people to take part as this is your opportunity to have your say and help us to shape the future of our home to school travel policy in North Yorkshire.”
North Yorkshire Council provides home to school transport for about 11,000 eligible pupils with many families living in often deeply rural communities.
Council documents show NYC predicts a spend of nearly £300,000 per day on home to school transport, equating to £54.4m a year, for 2026-2027.
This figure has increased by more than £10m since 2023/2024 where home to school transport cost £42.7m a year and £230, 950 per day.
Any approved policy changes will not take effect before September 2027 and will apply to children starting in Reception and Year 7 in September 2028.
The consultation is open until November 4 and you can take part here.
