PEOPLE are being reminded that there is still time to submit their views on proposals around changes to the provision of transport to and from school or college for schoolchildren and students.

Feedback on the proposals is invited through Hampshire County Council’s online consultation which is open until midnight on March 13.

The county council needs to make savings of £140m on its 2018/19 budget of which £1.54m is expected to come through spending less on school transport. The cuts are needed to off-set reduction in funding from central Government, changing needs within the county, and increases in prices.

Hampshire County Council currently spends more than £30m on home-to-school transport and post-16 transport for 15,000 students in Hampshire. The proposed changes, if agreed, would continue to meet the authority’s statutory responsibilities but would lead to a reduction in transport services that are provided at the county council’s discretion – above and beyond what the authority is legally required to deliver.

This currently applies to fewer than 1,000 young people who Hampshire County Council has supported either through local policy elements that go beyond the statutory minimum, or based on a family’s individual circumstances.

From September, children with special educational needs or disabilities may not get transport to nursery. The law doesn’t say the council has to provide free transport for children under five and it could save £340,000 per year if this transport was stopped.

The law says the council should provide school transport for children after their fifth birthday but the authority is also paying for 250 children aged four and five to use this transport.

From September 2019, children would only get school transport after their fifth birthday. It could save £500,000 per year by bringing Hampshire County Council policy in line with the law.

Legally, children under eight years of age should get free school transport if they live more than two miles from their school, and those aged over eight should get free school transport if they live more than three miles from their school.

Currently, the council doesn’t stop school transport on the day of a child’s eighth birthday. They can carry on using school transport until the end of the school year in July. Some 60 children under eight years old use this transport.

From September 2019, the proposal is that children who live two to three miles from their school would not get free school transport after their eighth birthday.

This would bring council policy in line with the law and save about £80,000 per year.

This would not affect children currently in Reception year, Year 1 or Year 2, although these children would stop using school transport in Year 3.

It is not law, but currently Hampshire County Council provides school transport for some young people who are 16-plus with an education, health and care plan or a disability if the they live more than three miles away from the college/school they are attending, or less if the young person has difficulty walking.The cost to the young person is £570 per year.

There is no charge if the young person gets free school meals or if the family is on benefits such as income support and child tax credit.

From September, young people would only get transport if that is the only way they can travel to college.

Some 330 young people currently use this transport at a cost of £1.6m, so some of this money could be saved.

If these changes take place, parents and carers would have to find other ways to get their children to school.

This could mean:

* A big change for children who live in the countryside, who may have a longer distance to travel to school;

* More traffic near local nurseries, schools and colleges as more parents take their children to school by car;

* Working parents and carers may need to change the times they go to work;

* Parents and carers may be able to apply for special support, such as a seat under the privilege seat scheme.

The consultation on proposed changes to the home-to-school transport service and post-16 transport service is available online at hants.gov.uk/consultations.

The online consultation information pack sets out the county council’s current position for the provision of the home-to-school transport service and explains the options for potential changes. Also online is a questionnaire for people to complete and make their views known.

Following the close of the consultation in March, and analysis of the responses, a report on the feedback will be prepared for Hampshire County Council’s executive lead member for children’s services, Keith Mans, to consider in May – together with any resulting recommendations for changes to the home-to-school transport and post-16 transport services which, if agreed, could be effective from September 1.