The Department for Education (DfE) has allocated a further £27,063,386 to the procurement of additional dedicated home-to-school transport in England. The award will cover provision in the first half of the spring 2021 term. It takes the total funding for this purpose to over £98.5m since the beginning of the autumn term.
As in previous allocations, the money will go to local transport authorities (LTAs). They will then spend it as necessary. Sums have been calculated by DfE based on information provided by LTAs about their actual and forecasted spend.
The money is to continue the practice employed during the autumn term of removing as many pupils and students from scheduled services as possible owing to ongoing capacity restrictions there. Dedicated home-to-school routes are not subject to those limits.
As in previous awards, Transport for London accounts for the largest single allocation. Under the latest tranche it will get £4,400,000. Greater Manchester Combined Authority will receive £2,642,222. Kent County Council is in third place, with £1,928,445. West Midlands Combined Authority, Surrey County Council and North East Combined Authority will also each receive over £1m.
15 English LTAs will receive no additional funding from the upcoming allocation, down from 17 that did not get any in the second half of the autumn term. Unspent funding from the latter period can be rolled over into the first half of the spring 2021 term, DfE says.
A spreadsheet detailing all awards since the start of the autumn term is available from the government’s website. In descending order, English LTAs that will receive funding from the latest tranche are:
Transport for London: £4,400,000
Greater Manchester Combined Authority: £2,642,222
Kent County Council: £1,928,445
West Midlands Combined Authority: £1,923,661
Surrey County Council: £1,214,833
North East Combined Authority: £1,093,581
Devon County Council: £772,375
Hertfordshire County Council: £764,608
Cornwall County Unitary Authority: £638,000
Tees Valley Combined Authority: £631,012
Sheffield City Region Combined Authority: £594,745
West Yorkshire Combined Authority: £491,925
Liverpool City Region Combined Authority: £466,431
Worcestershire County Council: £435,960
Norfolk County Council: £419,000
Dorset Council: £397,165
Derby City Council: £342,675
Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council: £338,989
Leicester City Council: £332,777
Cheshire East Unitary Authority: £330,970
Lancashire County Council: £323,777
West Sussex County Council: £319,132
Somerset County Council: £301,665
North Somerset Council: £300,968
Gloucestershire County Council: £300,669
Oxfordshire County Council: £299,403
Buckinghamshire County Council: £293,000
East Sussex County Council: £288,472
Nottinghamshire County Council: £285,000
Essex County Council: £281,795
Cheshire West and Chester Unitary Authority: £252,734
Southampton City Council: £251,928
Wiltshire County Unitary Authority: £250,877
Leicestershire County Council: £238,887
Luton Borough Council: £236,579
Medway Borough Council: £226,952
Brighton and Hove Council: £224,126
Milton Keynes Council: £196,720
Plymouth City Council: £195,567
Cumbria County Council: £171,921
North Lincolnshire Council: £171,381
Blackpool Borough Council: £155,028
Telford and Wrekin Council: £136,509
Southend-on-Sea Borough Council: £122,500
Isle of Wight Council: £115,750
Derbyshire County Council: £113,933
Thurrock Council: £102,302
West of England Combined Authority: £96,266
Hampshire County Council: £87,742
Wokingham District Council: £78,115
Portsmouth City Council: £75,824
Torbay Borough Council: £72,360
Kingston upon Hull City Council: £54,956
Warrington Borough Council: £42,849
County of Herefordshire District Council: £42,500
Bedford Unitary Authority: £42,000
West Berkshire District Council: £41,550
Rutland County Council District Council: £33,757
City of York Council: £25,584
East Riding of Yorkshire Council: £23,972
Stoke-on-Trent City Council: £15,804
Reading Borough Council: £7,804
Slough Borough Council: £4,484
Isles of Scilly Council: £870.
Those that will receive no money from the latest allocation are: Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council; Bracknell Forest Borough Council*; Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority; Central Bedfordshire Unitary Authority*; Lincolnshire County Council; North East Lincolnshire Council; North Yorkshire County Council; Northamptonshire County Council; Nottingham City Council*; Shropshire County Council Unitary Authority; Staffordshire County Council*; Suffolk County Council; Swindon Borough Council*; Warwickshire County Council*; and Windsor and Maidenhead Royal Borough Council*.
An asterisk notes LTAs that also did not receive any additional money for dedicated home-to-school transport in the second half of the autumn term. All LTAs received additional funding in the first half of the autumn term.
