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Faith School Transport Subsidy Approved
Posted on 05/06/2007
Loughborough Newsdesk
Plans to help hard-up families meet the cost of transport to faith schools have been agreed by Leicestershire County Councils ruling Cabinet.
Yesterdays (4th June 2007) Cabinet meeting has agreed to increase some school transport charges " and to limit their impact by setting up a hardship fund and capping the maximum cost for larger families.
The news comes after the County Council consulted the public on proposals to reduce school transport subsidies.
The Cabinet agreed to:
Charge pupils who use home to school transport to attend faith schools £240 per year from 2008, to contribute to the actual cost of £585 per pupil, per year - with the charge waived for low income families.
Increase the charge for post-16 transport from £60 to £180 from September this year and to £240 from September 2008, to contribute towards the actual cost of £426 per pupil, per year.
To introduce a minimum fare-paying charge of £180 from September this year and £240 from September 2008, for pupils who currently pay 17.5p per mile for using spare places on school transport.
After considering comments raised during the consultation process, the Cabinet also agreed to:
Ensure that families who send several children to faith schools only pay a maximum charge equivalent to two children - £480 per year from September 2008
Set up a £20,000 hardship fund, administered by the Catholic Diocese, to support transport costs for families just above the threshold for paying charges.
Ivan Ould, the Cabinet member responsible for school transport, said: "We listened very carefully and in an ideal world, all children would get free transport to school " but we are not in an ideal world because of our difficult funding situation and unless we do this, we will be cutting into statutory provision by April next year.
"We have, however, acted to ameliorate the initial proposals for faith transport, by limiting the charge to two pupils per family and by introducing a hardship fund. And people who pay the full charge will only pay an extra 65p per journey, as they will continue to receive a 60 per cent subsidy.