Have your say as Kirklees looks to axe funding for pupils' transport to faith schools

Scrapping free bus passes for pupils to travel to faith schools will save £111,000 every year.

But it’s likely to be met by opposition and a public consultation is to begin.

Kirklees Council is not required by law to provide funding for school transport for pupils attending faith schools and uses its discretionary powers to do so.

But with a £69m budget squeeze, councillors are considering ending the subsidy, affecting up to 456 pupils who currently get free bus passes to travel to and from a faith school.

The subsidy costs Kirklees Council £116,000 every year, however the saving will be £111,000 as some pupils will still be eligible as they are from low income families, which is a statutory duty for Kirklees Council.

Clr Graham Turner, Cabinet Member for Resources, said: “In our budget consultation at the end of 2014, 69% of those responding felt that changing this policy was a good or ok idea, so we are now developing this further and want to consult specifically on this.

“We fully understand that this is a difficult time for the parents of those children that may be affected by any decision we take, and this is why we are entering in to a full consultation.

“We also recognise that this could impact on how parents choose which school to send their children to in the future, which is why we wish to start the consultation as soon as possible.”

On Tuesday Kirklees Cabinet will be asked to back a formal public consultation on changes to the School Transport Policy. It will run from February 2-March 27.

Any decision about the future of the service will be made at a subsequent Cabinet meeting later in the year, after councillors have considered responses to the consultation.

In the wider school transport service councillors have to find £228,000 of savings in 2014/15 and £455,00 in 2015/16, which may affect other discretionary support, which includes subsidy for students over 16 in mainstream and special education needs, however no other proposed cuts have been announced for the service.

Already the headteachers of All Saints in Huddersfield and St John Fisher in Dewsbury have joined forces to urge councillors to re-think the proposal, saying it will impact on Catholic education.