Families in Cambridgeshire could have saved thousands of pounds if they knew they were eligible for financial help with school transport, a father claims.
Daniel Banks, from Fordham, has calculated that a family with two children may have unnecessarily paid out around £7,000 over their five years at secondary school.
He says many don’t realise they could be eligible for school transport assistance – and found past overviews about the scheme on the Cambridgeshire County Council website “misleading”.
Under the Education Act 1996, financial help is available for children to get to secondary school if they live more than a three-mile walking distance away.
Currently, this is clearly stated on the council’s website and policy documents.
Before January 2023, the criteria says secondary school pupils must live three miles away – but failed to mention the key point about walking distance.
Mr Banks said: “A common understanding among the community here is that if you live around three miles from a secondary school, you cannot get a bus pass.
“I was looking into the scheme for my own family because the shortest walking route to school is 3.2 miles – but this isn’t the safest route and involves walking along 60mph roads.
“Then council staff said that we weren’t eligible for the scheme because we live 2.5 miles away ‘as the crow flies’.
“And that’s wrong, the measurements should be based on walking distance.”
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Mr Banks has since appealed the decision, went before a panel of councillors and Cambridgeshire County Council staff, and won the case.
He is also waiting to hear back on his formal complaints about the historic website content.
He said: “The council has historically been misrepresenting its own policy and the law when it has been describing the scheme on its website.
“The main families I’m concerned for are those who are really struggling to make ends meet.
“They may be struggling to get their kids to school and actually missing out on much-needed financial help they’re eligible for.
“I’m relieved we won our appeal earlier in the month – but we can’t claim back for any of the previous years’ my children have been at secondary school.”
A council spokesperson said: “We regularly support families making an application for school transport assistance. Our eligibility for home to school transport assistance has not changed.
“The policy which details the eligibility criteria has always been available on the school transport webpage – the page which was subject to Mr Banks’ complaint.
“Supporting Cambridgeshire’s families and making sure eligible children get the assistance they need to travel between home and school is an important statutory duty, which we fulfil in line with the Education Act and the Equality Act.
“We do this to help ensure fair access education for all our young people.”
If Cambridgeshire residents with children attending their local school believe they might qualify for school transport assistance, they are encouraged to review the scheme.
This can include help due to low income, a disability and for medical reasons.
In February, the leaders of the council’s four parties wrote to the MP Michael Gove outlining concerns that its core government funding had been cut from £143m in 2013/14 to £68m in 2023/24.
They told the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities: “Most recently in this county, home to school transport has faced steep inflationary increases in costs as a result of rising fuel prices and constrained supply of drivers.”
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