Will the new PM save school transport? A look at Andy Burnham’s agenda
There’s plenty in the new PM’s agenda that touches home-to-school transport, but most of it either lands years from now or doesn’t help with the thing councils are actually struggling with: the £2.32 billion spent on school transport in 2023-24, coming in £415 million over budget.
Here’s a quick run through the central points worth knowing about.
SEND reform won’t arrive quickly
SEND transport, at £2 billion last year, is heading for £3.4 billion by 2030, according to the County Councils Network’s projections.
The plan, outlined in the Schools White Paper at the beginning of the year, is to support lower-needs SEND children in mainstream schools closer to home, which would mean fewer long taxi runs. Legislation is due in the autumn, but for now, nothing changes for EHCPs (and their associated rising transport costs) until at least September 2030.
Bus franchising helps shift students onto public transport
Under the Bus Services Act 2025, every transport authority in England outside London can now franchise its bus network. This gives councils the opportunity to plan school travel as part of the wider public transport network – tweaking commuter routes around school hours instead of buying separate bus routes for pupils.
Greater Manchester made it work. It also took them years, a lot of money, and a very detailed picture of their own network. So while a great idea, the logistics of review and redesign remains challenging for many councils.
Cheaper fares, eventually
In one of his first moves as PM, Burnham announced the £2 fare cap would be back from January 2027. Free bus passes for 16-18s are on the wish list, but the funding pot for this remains unsettled. While these are admirable schemes designed in part to level the playing field for post-16 access to education, it’s families who save, not transport budgets.
DRT to improve rural connections
Recent local government policies, such as only funding travel to the nearest school rather than the catchment school, have disproportionately impacted rural students. Burnham’s national transport plan emphasises integrating Demand-Responsive Transport (DRT) into the main public network.
The goal is to improve access to education and other critical services for those outside urban centres. Yet, delivering reliable DRT in rural areas is notoriously difficult and expensive, meaning these councils will require substantial financial backing to make it viable.
So where does that leave you?
Waiting for reform isn’t much of a plan when the reform’s four years out and the costs are mounting up today. The councils who cope best over the next few years will be the ones who already know what each route costs them and where the empty seats are.
QRoutes is here to help you with that bit now.