Precise details of the allocation of government funding to local authorities (LAs) in England to support additional dedicated home-to-school and home-to-college transport in the first half of the autumn term have been revealed.
In a major change to what was announced previously, £43,999,868 will be allocated to 79 councils, combined authorities, unitary authorities and Transport for London (TfL) to cover the requirement for additional dedicated transport up to the October 2020 half term.
While nothing has yet been confirmed by the government, that means more funding will have to be made available for the second half of the autumn term if additional dedicated home-to-school transport continues to be required. The money forms a key part of the government’s plan to remove children from local bus services owing to ongoing capacity restrictions there.
Sums allocated to each receiving body vary significantly. TfL accounts for £5.879m, or 13.4%, of the money. Nine others will receive over £1m for the period. Isles of Scilly Council will get the least, at £1,100. Three more will receive less than £100,000. The average sum to be paid is £556,960.
The government has previously estimated that 5,000 additional vehicles will be required to provide the extra dedicated home-to-school services.
Averaged over a typical 39 school days until the October half-term, the overall award is around £225 per vehicle, per day. However, LAs have already been advised in government guidance that where pupils and students using the new dedicated services previously travelled by public transport, they should be charged an identical fare.
In descending order, payments will be divided thus:
Transport for London £5,878,576
West Midlands Combined Authority £2,418,592
Greater Manchester Combined Authority £2,249,016
West Yorkshire Combined Authority £1,911,932
Kent County Council £1,542,816
North East Combined Authority £1,512,632
Essex County Council £1,252,988
Liverpool City Region Combined Authority £1,214,620
Hampshire County Council £1,091,288
Lancashire County Council £1,058,816
Sheffield City Region Combined Authority £993,256
Hertfordshire County Council £951,148
Surrey County Council £944,592
Norfolk County Council £746,988
Lincolnshire County Council £720,852
Northamptonshire County Council £680,900
Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority £678,172
Devon County Council £676,104
Staffordshire County Council £660,352
West Sussex County Council £648,868
Suffolk County Council £624,404
Derbyshire County Council £622,732
West of England Combined Authority £612,480
Nottinghamshire County Council £570,064
Buckinghamshire Unitary Authority £566,368
Gloucestershire County Council £550,132
Leicestershire County Council £541,288
North Yorkshire County Council £520,432
Oxfordshire £518,980
Tees Valley Combined Authority £517,308
Cornwall County Unitary Authority £511,412
Worcestershire County Council £503,360
Warwickshire County Council £482,328
Somerset County Council £464,860
East Sussex County Council £464,596
Wiltshire County Unitary Authority £450,076
Cumbria County Council £419,936
Dorset Council £333,036
Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council £300,036
Cheshire East Unitary Authority £294,536
Cheshire West and Chester Unitary Authority £293,832
Leicester City Council £284,504
East Riding of Yorkshire Council £270,116
Shropshire Council Unitary Authority £259,864
Central Bedfordshire Unitary Authority £246,488
Milton Keynes Council £245,212
Medway Borough Council £241,824
Nottingham City Council £213,752
Stoke-on-Trent City Council £211,464
Derby City Council £206,140
Plymouth City Council £190,784
Luton Borough Council £187,044
Swindon Borough Council £183,700
Kingston-Upon-Hull City Council £175,912
County of Herefordshire District Council £175,340
Thurrock Council £168,168
North Somerset Council £165,968
Warrington Borough Council £163,636
Telford and Wrekin Council £163,416
Brighton and Hove Council £158,312
Slough Borough Council £153,428
Southampton City Council £151,228
Wokingham District Council £145,772
Bedford Unitary Authority £137,192
Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council £133,408
West Berkshire District Council £125,576
Southend-on-Sea Borough Council £123,772
North Lincolnshire Council £122,628
North East Lincolnshire Council £122.012
City of York Council £119,416
Reading Borough Council £116,336
Windsor and Maidenhead Royal Borough Council £116.028
Isle of Wight Council £108,768
Blackpool Borough Council £107,580
Torbay Borough Council £100,320
Portsmouth City Council £96,712
Bracknell Forest Borough Council £84,480
Rutland County Council District Council £27,764
Isles of Scilly Council £1,100.
The full table can be downloaded as a spreadsheet from this webpage.
