Hertfordshire County Council Reveals £8m saving on school transport

Date: 26/2/2013

Hertfordshire County Council has claimed that it has saved £8 million since September 2012 after investing substantially in its school transport system.

As the BBC reports, the local authority spent more than £15 million on taxis to ferry pupils to school during the 2011/12 academic year, and it is already reaping the rewards of the initiative.

According to the Council, 80 per cent of the expenditure was dedicated to supporting those with (SEN) special educational needs, and it revealed that the network now only provides transport where the local authority is legally obliged to do so.

The Council says it is dedicated to offering a free service to children with SEN and mainstream pupils who live a specified distance from their school - more than two miles for children under eight and more than three miles for those who are older.

"Since [September 2012] we have started a policy of only providing school transport to those with a statutory entitlement to it and have saved £8 million," explained Councillor Terry Douris.

"We hope to save another £2 million in the 2014/15 year."

Mr Douris added that the Council had been "creative" with the methods it used to transport children, explaining that various options had been explored in order to enhance the efficiency of its network.

"Some will go by taxis and some use minibuses but the vehicle chosen is appropriate to the needs of the area," he said.

"We are also looking for the most cost effective means so sometimes, rather than buying taxis we have bought seats on buses so children can go by public transport.

"We also sometimes have common pick-up points rather than door-to-door taxi provision."

In further comments, the Councillor revealed that efforts to reduce transport costs in the future could centre on increasing school sizes so parents are able to get their children into schools closer to their homes - another example of the local authority's attempts to improve the efficiency of its budget.

Posted by Sarah Bailey

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